Glycerol Monolaurate (GML) and a Nonaqueous Five-Percent GML Gel Kill Bacillus and Clostridium Spores
Open accessAbstract
Bacillus and Clostridium spores are known to be highly resistant to killing, persisting on environmental and human body surfaces for long periods of time. In favorable environments, these spores may germinate and cause human diseases. It is thus important to identify agents that can be used on both environmental and human skin and mucosal surfaces and that are effective in killing spores. We previously showed that the fatty acid monoester glycerol monolaurate (GML) kills stationary-phase cultures of Bacillus anthracis . Since such cultures are likely to contain spores, it is possible that GML and a human-use-approved GML nonaqueous gel would kill Bacillus and Clostridium spores. The significance of our studies is that we have identified GML, and, to a greater extent, GML solubilized in a nonaqueous gel, as effective in killing spores from both bacterial genera.
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Glycerol monolaurate may almost completely kill the vegetative cells and spores of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.
“Additionally, GML may almost completely kill the vegetative cells and spores of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria (Schlievert et al., 2018; Yang et al., 2018).”
From Insect Derived Lauric Acid as Promising Alternative Strategy to Antibiotics in the Antimicrobial Resistance Scenario (2021) · cites this paper as Schlievert et al., 2018
The Discussion (page not provided) reports that GML alone killed vegetative cells of all five tested organisms, including aerobes and anaerobes. It says the 5% GML gel was more effective against their spores; the Results (page not provided) report that B. anthracis spores resisted GML alone, declining by only about one log over 24 hours. The claim omits the gel formulation needed for the broader spore-killing result and overgeneralizes beyond the tested organisms. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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References 31 · Cited by 21
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- Authors
- Schlievert, P. M., Kilgore, S. H., Kaus, G. M., Ho, T. D., & Ellermeier, C. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Iowa (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schlievert, Patrick M.
- Venue
- mSphere
- Publisher
- American Society for Microbiology
- Published
- 2018-12-26
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 6
- ISSN
- 2379-5042 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6249644
- OpenAlex
- W2900811153
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 1.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- mSphere (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- HHS | U.S. Public Health Service (AI087834)
- University of Iowa
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Antimicrobial agents and applications
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bacillus and Francisella bacterial research
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Essential Oils and Antimicrobial Activity
- Keywords
- glycerol monolaurate, Bacillus spores, Clostridium spores, spore inactivation, Bacillus anthracis, spore germination, disinfectants
- MeSH terms
- Anti-Bacterial Agents, Bacillus, Clostridium, Gels, Laurates, Spores, Bacterial, Monoglycerides, Microbial Viability
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