Continuous nisin production with bioengineered <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactococcus lactis</Emphasis> strains

Nisin production in continuous cultures of bioengineered Lactococcus lactis strains that incorporate additional immunity and regulation genes was studied. Highest nisin activities were observed at 0.2 h^–1 dilution rate and 12.5 g l^–1 fructose concentration for all strains. Recombinant strains were able to produce greater amounts of nisin at dilution rates below 0.3 h⁻¹ compared to the control strain. However, this significant difference disappeared at dilution rates of 0.4 and 0.5 h^–1. For the strains LL27, LAC338, LAC339, and LAC340, optimum conditions for nisin production were determined to be at 0.29, 0.26, 0.27, and 0.27 h^–1 dilution rates and 11.95, 12.01, 11.63, and 12.50 g l^–1 fructose concentrations, respectively. The highest nisin productivity, 496 IU ml^–1 h^–1, was achieved with LAC339. The results of this study suggest that low dilution rates stabilize the high specific nisin productivity of the bioengineered strains in continuous fermentation. Moreover, response surface methodology analysis showed that regulation genes yielded high nisin productivity at wide ranges of dilution rates and fructose concentrations.     

Isolation of sensitive nisin-sensing GFP<Subscript>uv</Subscript> bioassay <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactococcus lactis</Emphasis> strains using FACS

Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) was used to isolate mutants of Lactococcus lactis LAC275, an indicator strain in GFP_uv nisin bioassay. It harbors the GFP_uv encoding gene under the nisA promoter and the nisin signal transduction nisRK genes whereby nisin concentration can be correlated to GFP_uv fluorescence. The sorted L. lactis cells, which showed higher fluorescence intensities at low inducer concentration, were analysed for higher responsiveness to low concentration of nisin. Two strains showed lower detection limits (0.2 pg ml⁻¹) for nisin than the parent strain (10 pg ml⁻¹). This showed that mutants of LAC275 could successfully be isolated using FACS.     

Cycle changing the medium results in increased nisin productivity per cell in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactococcus lactis</Emphasis>

High specific cellular nisin production was aimed by cycle changing the medium of Lactococcus lactis N8 and LAC48. The highest level of nisin production was reached with the 120 min cycles but maximal production was unstable. In shorter cycles (30 and 60 min) cells could be maintained in a high production state up to the end of the fermentation (28 and 14 cycles). N8 produced 19-fold and LAC48 15-fold more nisin with cycle changing the medium than without cycle incubation.     

Production of nisin with continuous adsorption to Amberlite XAD-4 resin using<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Lactococcus lactis</Emphasis> N8 and<Emphasis Type="Italic"> L. lactis</Emphasis> LAC48

The production of nisin, biomass and lactic acid in pH-controlled and uncontrolled batch fermentation and batch fermentation (pH 5.5) with continuous removal of nisin was examined in the parent strain Lactococcus lactis N8 and LAC48. Strain LAC48 in batch fermentor (pH not controlled) gave a maximum nisin concentration of 2.5×10⁶ IU g dcw^–1. The nisin concentration remained high (2.0×10⁶ IU g dcw^–1) after the logarithmic growth phase (10–22 h), whereas nisin production of strain N8 decreased after the logarithmic growth phase. The maximum nisin production of strain LAC48 was not directly related to the biomass formation and not associated with growth. In order to study end product inhibition in nisin production, a system was built for adsorption of nisin during fermentation. The adsorbent Amberlite XAD-4 was found to have an effective binding capacity for nisin. Cells of LAC48 and N8 compensated for the removal of nisin, indicating that nisin production also occurs in the stationary phase.     

Genetic and molecular study of the inability of the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis var. drosophilarum to ferment lactose

The fermentation of lactose (Lac⁺) in the dairy yeast Kluyveromyces lactis var. lactis is controlled by the LAC4 (β-galactosidase) and LAC12 (lactose permease) genes. The complementation analysis of twelve Kl. lactis var. drosophilarum natural homothallic Lac^? strains of different origin was carried out using the genetic heterothallic lines of Kl. lactis var. lactis of the lac4LAC12 and LAC4lac12 genotypes. It was shown that the natural Lac^? strains did not possess the LAC4LAC12 gene cluster. Southern hybridization of chromosomal DNA with LAC4 and LAC12 probes, as well as recombination analysis, showed that Kl. lactis var. drosophilarum yeasts do not have even silent copies of these genes. As distinct from this yeast, natural Lac^? strains of the yeast Kl. marxianus are mutants impaired in the lactose permease gene (lac12 analogue), but possess an active β-galactosidase gene (LAC4 analogue). The origin of the LAC4LAC12 gene cluster of the dairy yeasts Kl. lactis is discussed.     

Improving nisin production by increasing nisin immunity/resistance genes in the producer organism Lactococcus lactis

The effect on nisin production of increasing nisin immunity/resistance genes in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis MG1363 was investigated. The 60-kb nisin immunity/resistance plasmid pND300, which was isolated from a non-nisin-producing strain, encodes five genes involved in nisin immunity/resistance, which are very similar to those of the immunity/resistance system encoded by the nisin-production transposon. The introduction of pND300 into MG1363(TnNip) resulted in the construct being able to produce significantly more nisin than the parent MG1363(TnNip). The introduction of pND314, which contains the nisin immunity/resistance genes subcloned into pSA3, into MG1363(TnNip) allowed the strain to grow more rapidly than the parent MG1363(TnNip) with a concomitant increase in the rate of nisin production. This work illustrates that introduction of pND300 and a derivative containing the nisin immunity/resistance system of pND300 into MG1363 (TnNip) can result in significant alterations to the kinetics of nisin production. These observations indicate approaches that may be used successfully to improve the economics of nisin production. Received: 11 February 1998 / Received revision: 25 June 1998 / Accepted: 27 June 1998     

Online recovery of nisin during fermentation and its effect on nisin production in biofilm reactor

An online removal of nisin by silicic acid coupled with a micro-filter module was proposed as an alternative to reduce detrimental effects caused by adsorption of nisin onto producer, enzymatic degradation by protease, and product inhibition during fermentation. In this study, silicic acid was successfully used to recover nisin from the fermentation broth of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis NIZO 22186. The effect of pH (at 6.8 and 3.0) during adsorption process and several eluents (deionized water, 20% ethanol, 1 M NaCl, and 1 M NaCl + 20% ethanol) for desorption were evaluated in a small batch scale. Higher nisin adsorption onto silicic acid was achieved when the adsorption was carried out at pH 6.8 (67% adsorption) than at pH 3.0 (54% adsorption). The maximum recovery was achieved (47% of nisin was harvested) when the adsorption was carried out at pH 6.8 and 1 M NaCl + 20% ethanol was used as an eluent for desorption. Most importantly, nisin production was significantly enhanced (7,445 IU/ml) when compared with the batch fermentation without the online recovery (1,897 IU/ml). This may possibly be attributed to preventing the loss of nisin due the detrimental effects and a higher biomass density achieved during online recovery process, which stimulated production of nisin during fermentation.     

Incorporation of nisI-mediated nisin immunity improves vector-based nisin-controlled gene expression in lactic acid bacteria

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been used successfully to express a wide variety of recombinant proteins, ranging from flavor-active proteins to antibiotic peptides and oral vaccines. The nisin-controlled expression (NICE) system is the most prevalent of the systems for production of heterologous proteins in LAB. Previous optimization of the NICE system has revealed a strong limit on the concentration of the inducer nisin that can be tolerated by the culture of host cells. In this work, the nisin immunity gene, nisI, has been inserted into the recently reported pMSP3535H2 vector that contains the complete NICE system on a high-copy Escherichia coli-LAB shuttle vector. Fed-batch fermentation data show that Lactococcus lactis IL1403 cells transformed with the new vector, pMSP3535H3, tolerate a 5-fold increase in the concentration of the inducer nisin, and, at this elevated concentration, produce a 1.8-fold increased level of green fluorescent protein (GFP), a model recombinant protein. Therefore, the incorporation of nisI in the pMSP3535H3 NICE system described here unveils new ranges of induction parameters to be studied in the course of optimizing recombinant protein expression in LAB.     

Lipid-free NisI: interaction with nisin and contribution to nisin immunity via secretion

Nisin-producing Lactococcus lactis cells protect their own cytoplasmic membrane by specific immunity proteins, NisF/E/G and NisI, a transporter complex and a lipoprotein, respectively. A portion of NisI is secreted to the medium in a lipid-free form (LF-NisI). Here, kinetics of the interaction between nisin and LF-NisI was examined by surface plasmon resonance analysis. The affinity constant K_D for the interaction was calculated to be in the micromolar range. Contribution of the secreted LF-NisI to nisin immunity was studied by replacing the lipoprotein specific nisI signal sequence with a secretion signal of non-lipoprotein origin. Secretion of LF-NisI in NisF/E/G-expressing L. lactis strain NZ9840 increased significantly its nisin tolerance suggesting that the lipid-free form of NisI could have a supportive role in nisin immunity.     

Nisin高产菌株的高通量筛选

【目的】乳酸链球菌素(nisin)是一种天然生物活性抗菌肽,对包括食品腐败菌和致病菌在内的许多革兰氏阳性菌具有强烈的抑制作用,而用作食品的防腐剂。本研究通过建立高通量筛选方法,实现高效快速省力的高产菌株筛选,为工业上筛选高产菌株提供研究方案。【方法】通过对Lactococcus lactis ATCC11454菌株进行紫外诱变,获得2511株突变株。利用Biomek FXP自动工作站建立96微孔板的高通量筛选方法,突变株经高通量挑选、菌种培养及菌液稀释后,加入到生长至对数中期的藤黄微球菌中,采用改进后的比浊法快速检测nisin生物活性。用此方法对突变株进行初筛、复筛后可得到nisin高产菌株,并通过摇瓶发酵评估高通量筛选方法。【结果】确定比浊法检测的条件为:nisin活性稀释在10–25 IU/m L范围内,与藤黄微球菌反应2 h后检测藤黄微球菌的菌体量(OD600)。2511株突变株经过2轮高通量筛选,最终获得约50株产量提升的菌株,对其中8株进行摇瓶精确测量,显示产量均有提高,并且其中一株产量提升了30%,成功建立了高通量筛选nisin高产菌株的方法。【结论】利用比浊检测法,在其基础上成功建立高通量筛选高产nisin菌的方法,经过初筛复筛,整个周期由1人耗时5 d即可完成2511株突变株的筛选工作。相较于传统的选育方法,高通量筛选具有快速、稳定、高效的特点,提高了筛选效率,缩短了选育周期,是工业上筛选高产nisin菌的有效手段。     

Loss of IrpT Function in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis N8 Results in Increased Nisin Resistance

The antibiotic nisin, produced by Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis N8, offers an extensive commercial prospect as natural food preservatives. The nisin immunity of the L. lactis strains is regulated by a variety of mechanisms. In this study, we isolated a L. lactis L31 strain with increased nisin resistance from a mini-Mu transposon mutant pool of strain N8. The single Mu insertion in strain L31 was in the irpT gene with unknown function. By comparing the proteomic profiles of L. lactis L31 and its parental strain, we found that changes occurred in the synthesis of a protein involved in cell wall biosynthesis (RmlD). Strain L31 had 13.7% higher content of rhamnose in the cell wall than the N8 strain. Overexpression of RmlD involved in the synthesis of dTDP-l-rhamnose in the nisin-sensitive MG1363 strain increased nisin resistance of the strain. The results indicate that these cellular proteins effected nisin resistance in L. lactis N8.     

Lactate removal by anionic-exchange resin improves nisin production by Lactococcus lactis

When lactate was removed from sucrose fermentation in situ, using the anionic-exchange resin Amberlite IRA-67, by Lactococcus lactis growing in batch culture, nisin production increased by two-fold when compared to the alkali pH-controlled fermentation. In comparison to sucrose, lactate removal increased nisin production 1.5-fold and 0.3-fold when galactose and glucose were used as carbon sources respectively.     

Improvement of nisin production in pH feed-back controlled,fed-batch culture by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactococcus lactis</Emphasis>subsp<Emphasis Type="Italic">. lactis</Emphasis>

Nisin production by Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactisin fed-batch culture was doubled by using a pH feed-back controlled method. Sucrose concentration was controlled at 10 g l^–1 giving 5010 IU nisin ml^–1 compared to 2660 IU nisin ml^–1 in batch culture.     

Complete nisin A gene cluster from Lactococcus lactis M78 (HM219853) — obtaining the nucleic acid sequence and comparing it to other published nisin sequences

Nisin is an antimicrobial peptide produced by Lactococcus lactis. It has a long history of safe use, mainly in food production. This bacteriocin has been studied from many aspects of genetics, biosynthesis, immunity, regulation and mode of action. The strain Lac. lactis M78 has already been described in previous studies as a good nisin A producer with equally good potential to be used in food production. The main objective of the present study was to determine the complete nucleic acid sequence of the nisin A gene cluster from this strain. This is the first time that all 11 genes that form the nisin A gene cluster were sequenced. The obtained sequence (GenBank: HM219853) was compared to other known nucleic acid sequences of bacteriocin nisin. The results of the comparison showed certain differences in sequences that might influence the structure and function of proteins involved in nisin biosynthesis, immunity and regulation.     

Evidence for a role of NisT in transport of the lantibiotic nisin produced by Lactococcus lactis N8

Abstract The biosynthesis, immunity and regulation of nisin, a lanthionine-containing antimicrobial peptide produced by Lactococcus lactis , is encoded by two gene clusters, nisAIZBTCIPRK and nisFEG . The mutant strain LAC46 with a deletion in the translocator gene nisT could not secrete nisin but nisin activity was detected from cell lysates. The nisT mutation was complemented by a NisT-expression plasmid resulting in restored capacity to secrete nisin. These results demonstrate that NisT is the transport protein dedicated to translocate nisin and that dehydration and lanthionine formation in nisin maturation can occur independently of transport.     

Nisin production of Lactococcus lactis N8 with hemin‐stimulated cell respiration in fed‐batch fermentation system

In this study, nisin production of Lactococcus lactis N8 was optimized by independent variables of glucose, hemin and oxygen concentrations in fed‐batch fermentation in which respiration of cells was stimulated with hemin. Response surface model was able to explain the changes of the nisin production of L. lactis N8 in fed‐batch fermentation system with high fidelity (R² 98%) and insignificant lack of fit. Accordingly, the equation developed indicated the optimum parameters for glucose, hemin, and dissolved oxygen were 8 g L^?1 h^?1, 3 μg mL^?1 and 40%, respectively. While 1711 IU mL^?1 nisin was produced by L. lactis N8 in control fed‐batch fermentation, 5410 IU mL^?1 nisin production was achieved within the relevant optimum parameters where the respiration of cell was stimulated with hemin. Accordingly, nisin production was enhanced 3.1 fold in fed‐batch fermentation using hemin. In conclusion the nisin production of L. lactis N8 was enhanced extensively as a result of increasing the biomass by stimulating the cell respiration with adding the hemin in the fed‐batch fermentation. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:678–685, 2015     

Inducible resistance against nisin in Lactobacillus casei

Most strains of Lactobacillus casei tested were found to be nisin-resistant. The addition of nisin to a growing culture of a resistant strain stopped growth for several hours; however, growth then resumed at the previous rate. Nisin induced a resistance mechanism that was lost by one passage in nisin-free medium. During induction with nisin, the cells produced an anionic, phosphate-containing polysaccharide with the subunits rhamnose and galactose. This polysaccharide protected sensitive cells of L. casei against the bactericidal action of nisin. Received: 27 July 1995 / Accepted: 30 October 1995     

PCR detection of the structural genes of nisin Z and lacticin 481 in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis INIA 415, a strain isolated from raw milk Manchego cheese

A Lactococcus strain with strong antimicrobial activity was isolated from raw milk Manchego cheese during a survey on the production of bacteriocins by lactic acid bacteria present in raw milk cheeses. It was identified as Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, phenotypically by its morphological and physiological characteristics and genotypically by a PCR technique. When tested for tolerance to known bacteriocins produced by lactococci, it was shown to be resistant to nisin A and nisin Z. The presence of genes encoding nisin and lacticin 481 was revealed by PCR techniques with specific probes. Sequences of the respective PCR amplified fragments matched sequences reported for nisin Z and lacticin 481.     

Production of nisin Z using <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactococcus lactis</Emphasis> IO-1 from hydrolyzed sago starch

A membrane bioreactor for production of nisin Z was constructed using Lactococcus lactis IO-1 in continuous culture using hydrolyzed sago starch as carbon source. A strategy used to enhance the productivity of nisin Z was to maintain the cells in a continuous growth at high cell concentration. This resulted in a volumetric productivity of nisin Z, as 50,000 IU l⁻¹ h⁻¹ using a cell concentration of 15 g l⁻¹, 30^°C, pH 5.5 and a dilution rate of 1.24 h⁻¹. Adding 10 g l⁻¹ YE and 2 g l⁻¹ polypeptone, other inducers were unnecessary to maintain production of nisin. The operating conditions of the reactor removed nisin and lactate, thus minimizing their effects which allowed the maintenance of cells in continuous exponential growth phase mode with high metabolic activity.     

Effects of pH profiles on nisin fermentation coupling with foam separation

Online foam separation was proposed to recover nisin during fermentation of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis ATCC 11454. Firstly, the optimal pH profile of nisin fermentation was investigated including different realkalization set values and pH drop gradients. Then the selected pH profiles of 5.75 ± 0.05 and 6.25–5.75 (±0.02) were used to perform nisin fermentation coupling with foam separation. The results showed that pH profile of 5.75 ± 0.05 was better than that of 6.25–5.75 (±0.02) for online foam separation. With the optimal pH profile, an aeration of 20 ml min⁻¹ that started at 8 h of incubation and lasted for 2 h resulted in 6.6 times higher specific productivity than that of the fermentation without aeration. Nisin synthesis was therefore prolonged with low sucrose concentration in the culture broth, which indicated that the feedback inhibition of nisin is more influential than the substrate limitation of sucrose in the late phase of nisin fermentation. Total nisin production (4,870 ± 180 IU ml⁻¹) was increased by 30.3% with online foam separation. This effective online recovery method for nisin production could be easily scaled up due to the facile operation of foaming process.