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Abstract Atmospheric DBD has been applied to the wet state of Escherichia coli and bacteriophage‐ λ . Upon DBD treatment, both E.coli and λ phage were immediately inactivated. The states of different biological components were monitored during the course of inactivation. Only minor and slow degradation of proteins, DNA, and membranes was observed, a remarkable degradation was seen only after the completion of sterilization. Analysis of GFP recombinantly introduced into E.coli cells proved that the DBD has a prominent protein denaturation activity without affecting peptide bonds. The irreversible denaturation of proteins, seen in the early stage of DBD application, may play a central role in inactivation of both the bacteria and bacteriophages. magnified image
Yasuda et al. (Thu,) studied this question.