Effect of Phenolic Compounds on Viability of Wine Spoilage Lactic Acid Bacteria. A Structure-Activity Relationship Study

Abstract

The effects of wine phenolic compounds (PCs), hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, and a flavanol, on the growth of <i>Lactobacillus hilgardii and Pediococcus pentosaceus</i>, both isolated from Argentine red wine, were assayed in synthetic winelike medium for the first time. The greatest inhibition of <i>L. hilgardii</i> 6F, <i>L. hilgardii</i> X₁B, and <i>P. pentosaceus</i> 12p occurred with 400 mg/L of either <i>trans</i>-caffeic or <i>trans-p</i>-coumaric acid and 96 hr of incubation. <i>P. pentosaceus</i> was the most sensitive to PCs. A structure-antibacterial activity relationship study of the PCs revealed that <i>trans</i>-caffeic and <i>trans-p</i>-coumaric acid have similar electron distributions with interatomic distances of 8 Å between the catechol hydroxyls and the carboxyl group. These minimum structural requirements (pharmacophore pattern) present in the molecule of the phenolic compounds are necessary to produce antibacterial activity against wine spoilage lactic acid bacteria.