Differences in the Transcriptomic Response of and to Heat Stress.

spp. are one of the most important food-borne pathogens, which are quite susceptible to environmental or technological stressors compared to other zoonotic bacteria. This might be due to the lack of many stress response mechanisms described in other bacteria. Nevertheless, is able to survive in the environment and food products. Although some aspects of the heat stress response in are already known, information about the stress response in other species are still scarce. In this study, the stress response of and to elevated temperatures (46°C) was investigated by survival assays and whole transcriptome analysis. None of the strains survived at 46°C for more than 8 h and approximately 20% of the genes of RM2228 and RM2100 were differentially expressed. The transcriptomic profiles showed enhanced gene expression of several chaperones like , , , and in both strains, indicating a general involvement in the heat stress response within the species. However, the pronounced differences in the expression pattern between and suggest that stress response mechanisms described for one species might be not necessarily transferable to other species.