Abstract:Diallyl disulfide (DADS) is one typical sulfur flavor. This kind of sulfur flavor showed remarkable effect in antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, improving body immunity, preventing cardiovascular diseases and other health and pharmacological effects. However, most previous studies have focused on the antimicrobial activities of DADS, while relatively limited literature is available on their effect on gene expression. One of the four major foodborne pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes (LM) susceptible to food and lead to meningitis, septicemia and miscarriage and a series of malignant diseases. This study was undertaken to investigate the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of DADS in repressing L. monocytogenes growth in vitro. Additionally, a comprehensive understanding of the transcriptional response of the virulence genes caused by DADS. The results showed that DADS could significantly inhibit the expression of virulence genes inlA, hlyA and prfA under sub-MIC, and the inhibitory effect showed a concentration dependent manner, hlyA and prfA are more sensitive to it.