5.

Future perspectives
While significant advances have been recently made in identifying and characterizing
genetic stress tolerance mechanisms of C. botulinum, the story is far from complete. The
apparent interconnection between the decision-making networks controlling sporulation and
stress tolerance is of special interest, as are the observations on induction of oxidative
stress machineries upon temperature stress. Although similarities in stress tolerance
mechanisms of C. botulinum to those of other bacteria have been observed, recent
studies have shown that many stress-related mecha- nisms of C. botulinum differ
considerably from those char- acterized in other bacteria. The further characterization of the
stress tolerance mechanisms identified exclusively in C. botulinum could significantly
assist in development of tar- geted, efficient food safety control. Finally, the genetic
mechanisms of stress response of the important psychro- trophic foodborne pathogens,
namely, the Group II C. botu- linum, are mostly unknown. A thorough characterization of
the cold tolerance-related mechanisms of these bacteria should be a priority in future
research.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
This work was performed at the Finnish Centre of Excel- lence in Microbial Food Safety
Research, and funded by the ABS Graduate School and the Academy of Finland (grants
118602 and 141140).
References