Metabolic behavior of Lactococcus lactis MG1363 in microaerobic continuous cultivation at a low dilution rate

Minute amounts of oxygen were supplied to a continuous cultivation of Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris MG1363 grown on a defined glucose-limited medium at a dilution rate of 0.1 h(-1). More than 80% of the carbon supplied with glucose ended up in fermentation products other than lactate. Addition of even minute amounts of oxygen increased the yield of biomass on glucose by more than 10% compared to that obtained under anaerobic conditions and had a dramatic impact on catabolic enzyme activities and hence on the distribution of carbon at the pyruvate branch point. Increasing aeration caused carbon dioxide and acetate to replace formate and ethanol as catabolic end products while hardly affecting the production of either acetoin or lactate. The negative impact of oxygen on the synthesis of pyruvate formate lyase was confirmed. Moreover, oxygen was shown to down regulate the protein level of alcohol dehydrogenase while increasing the enzyme activity levels of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, alpha-acetolactate synthase, and the NADH oxidases. Lactate dehydrogenase and glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme activity levels were unaffected by aeration.     

生长抑制剂所诱导的乳酸乳球菌MG1363的自溶表型及其生长阶段特异的性质

【目的】自溶是细菌在压力环境下通过自身裂解而获得的一种生理适应现象,研究的目的是全面探讨乳酸菌株在生长抑制剂条件下的自溶表型及机理。【方法】对多种来源的乳酸菌株的自溶能力进行检测,通过在不同生长条件和抑制剂压力条件下乳酸乳球菌MG1363的生长检测对其自溶表型进行分析。【结果】在葡萄糖严格受限的培养基中,氨苄青霉素的加入能够显著诱导MG1363的自溶,而且该自溶现象只发生在葡萄糖耗尽的时间点,展现出一种狭窄的生长时期依赖的特征。与此同时,因为氨苄青霉素的加入,4种主要的自溶酶的表达都发生了不同程度的显著改变。此外,所有受试的抑制剂都削弱了MG1363在非营养条件下的自溶,表明该菌株可能具有一种涉及细胞壁合成和降解酶的共同调控的模式。【结论】乳酸菌株在不同生长抑制剂条件下的自溶表型存在很大差异,且该自溶体现出营养条件和生长时期严格依赖的特征。     

Proteome phenotyping of acid stress-resistant mutants of Lactococcus lactis MG1363

To cope with medium acidity, Lactococcus lactis has evolved a number of inducible mechanisms commonly referred as acid stress response. To better understand the molecular basis of this response, several mutants constitutively tolerant to acidity were previously obtained by insertional random mutagenesis of L. lactis MG1363. Mutants in which the GMP synthase gene (i.e. guaA), the (p)ppGpp synthase gene (i.e. relA*) or the high affinity phosphate transport system (i.e. pstS) are inactivated are further characterized in this study. 2-DE was performed and showed that 42, 26, and 35 protein spots are positively deregulated in the guaA, relA*, and pstS mutants, respectively, as compared to the wild-type strain. Most of these proteins were identified by MS. Proteomes comparison of the mutants guaA, relA*, and pstS as well as the acid adaptation proteome of the wild-type strain revealed (i) the presence of numerous overlaps and (ii) that only five proteins were overexpressed in the four conditions, suggesting that these proteins play a crucial role in the constitutive acid stress tolerance of the mutants and in the acid tolerance response of the wild-type strain.     

Glucose Metabolism in Lactococcus lactis MG1363 under Different Aeration Conditions: Requirement of Acetate To Sustain Growth under Microaerobic Conditions

Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis MG1363 was grown in batch cultures on a defined medium with glucose as the energy source under different aeration conditions, namely, anaerobic conditions, aerobic conditions, and microaerobic conditions with a dissolved oxygen tension of 5% (when saturation with air was used as the reference). The maximum specific growth rate was high (0.78 to 0.91 h⁻¹) under all aeration conditions but decreased with increasing aeration, and more than 90% of the glucose was converted to lactate. However, a shift in by-product formation was observed. Increasing aeration resulted in acetate, CO₂, and acetoin replacing formate and ethanol as end products. Under microaerobic conditions, growth came to a gradual halt, although more than 60% of the glucose was still left. A decline in growth was not observed during microaerobic cultivation when acetate was added to the medium. We hypothesize that the decline in growth was due to a lack of acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) needed for fatty acid synthesis since acetyl-CoA can be synthesized from acetate by means of acetate kinase and phosphotransacetylase activities.     

Investigating Lactococcus lactis MG1363 Response to Phage p2 Infection at the Proteome Level

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Highlights

• •The proteomes of L. lactis MG1363 and phage p2 at different stages of infection were characterized.
• •16% (226/1412) of the bacterial proteins detected were unique to infected cultures.
• •A targeted approach using synthetic peptides improved the coverage of phage p2 proteome.
• •By means of proteogenomics, we uncovered a conserved phage protein coded by a previously unannotated gene.
• •Deletion of the bacterial gene llmg_0219 (unknown function) impedes phage p2 infection.

     

Identification and characterisation of a gene encoding aminoacylase activity from Lactococcus lactis MG1363

Analysis of the sequence of a randomly cloned chromosomal DNA fragment (3.2 kb) from Lactococcus lactis revealed the presence of part of an open reading frame, designated amd1, which specifies a protein displaying significant similarity to aminoacylases from various bacteria. The presence of an immobilised copy of an IS982 element immediately upstream of the coding region of amd1 has probably resulted in the displacement of amd1's native promoter. This genetic organisation was shown to be retained in seven other dairy strains, one of which was only slightly different. The amd1 gene was overexpressed in L. lactis NZ9800 under the control of the inducible nisA promoter and the deacetylating capacity of its gene product was measured on a number of substrates.     

Citrate permease gene expression in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis strains IL1403 and MG1363

Abstract Citrate permease gene expression in the plasmid-free Lactococcus lactis strains IL1403 and MG1363 was studied. The ability to transport citrate results in diacetyl and acetoin production in IL1403 but not in MG1363. Citrate lyase, α-acetolactate decarboxylase, diacetyl and acetoin reductase were detected in IL1403. These data show that L. lactis ssp. lactis strain IL1403 is a citrate permease mutant of the biovar. diacetylactis . Immunological analysis revealed the α-and β-subunits of citrate lyase not only in IL1403 but also in MG1363 where no citrate lyase activity was found.     

南极假丝酵母脂肪酶B(CALB)基因在乳酸乳球菌MG1363中的整合及表达

根据南极假丝酵母脂肪酶B (CALB)的基因序列将CALB基因进行TA克隆、酶切鉴定及测序后,亚克隆至大肠杆菌-乳酸乳球菌穿梭表达栽体pMG36e-Nisl中,构建重组表达栽体pMG36e-Nisl-CALB.设计特异性引物P3和P4,对重组质粒pMG36e-NisI-CALB进行红霉素抗性基因的敲除,以构建食品级表达载体pMG36N-CALB,后再将两种重组质粒分别电转化入乳酸乳球菌MG1363,以Nisin为选择压力,考察CALB在MG1363中的表达情况.结果显示,成功构建了表达载体pMG36e-NisI-CALB及pMG36N-CALB,两株重组菌在含有20 IU Nisir/mL的培养基中均生长情况良好,遗传性能稳定,且经水解圈鉴定,CALB能够进行活性表达.进一步研究发现,CALB基因整合到乳酸乳球菌MG1363染色体中.     

Cloning of usp45, a gene encoding a secreted protein from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis MG1363

We have cloned usp45, a gene encoding an extracellular secretory protein of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis strain MG1363. Unidentified secreted 45-kDa protein (Usp45) is secreted by every mesophilic L. lactis strain we tested so far and it is chromosomally encoded. The nucleotide sequence of the usp45 gene revealed an open reading frame of 1383 bp encoding a protein of 461 amino acids (aa), composed of a 27-aa signal peptide and a mature protein initiated at Asp28. The gene contains a consensus promoter sequence and a weak ribosome-binding site; the latter is rather uncommon for Gram-positive bacteria. Expression studies in Escherichia coli showed efficient synthesis and secretion of the protein. Usp45 has an unusual aa composition and distribution, and it is predicted to be structurally homologous with P54 of Enterococcus faecium. Up to now, no biological activity could be postulated for this secreted protein.     

A host factor absent from Lactococcus lactis subspecies lactis MG1363 is required for conjugative transposition

In matings between Lactococcus lactis strains, the conjugative transposons Tn916 and Tn919 are found in the chromosome of the transconjugants in the same place as in the chromosome of the donor, indicating that no transposition has occurred. In agreement with this, the frequency of L. lactis transconjugants from intraspecies matings is the same whether the donor contains the wild-type form of the transposon or the mutant Tn916-int1, which has an insertion in the transposon's integrase gene. However, in intergeneric crosses with Bacillus subtilis or Enterococcus faecalis donors, Tn916 and Tn919 transpose to different locations on the chromosome of the L. lactis transconjugants. Moreover, Tn916 and Tn919 could not be transferred by conjugation from L. lactis and B. subtilis, E. faecalis or Streptococcus pyogenes. This suggests that excision of these elements does not occur in L. lactis. When cloned into E. coli with adjacent chromosomal DNA from L. lactis, the conjugative transposons were able to excise, transpose and promote conjugation. Therefore, the inability of these elements to excise in L. lactis is not caused by a permanent structural alteration in the transposon. We conclude that L. lactis lacks a factor required for excision of conjugative transposons.     

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase has no control over glycolytic flux in Lactococcus lactis MG1363

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) has previously been suggested to have almost absolute control over the glycolytic flux in Lactococcus lactis (B. Poolman, B. Bosman, J. Kiers, and W. N. Konings, J. Bacteriol. 169:5887-5890, 1987). Those studies were based on inhibitor titrations with iodoacetate, which specifically inhibits GAPDH, and the data suggested that it should be possible to increase the glycolytic flux by overproducing GAPDH activity. To test this hypothesis, we constructed a series of mutants with GAPDH activities from 14 to 210% of that of the reference strain MG1363. We found that the glycolytic flux was unchanged in the mutants overproducing GAPDH. Also, a decrease in the GAPDH activity had very little effect on the growth rate and the glycolytic flux until 25% activity was reached. Below this activity level, the glycolytic flux decreased proportionally with decreasing GAPDH activity. These data show that GAPDH activity has no control over the glycolytic flux (flux control coefficient = 0.0) at the wild-type enzyme level and that the enzyme is present in excess capacity by a factor of 3 to 4. The early experiments by Poolman and coworkers were performed with cells resuspended in buffer, i.e., nongrowing cells, and we therefore analyzed the control by GAPDH under similar conditions. We found that the glycolytic flux in resting cells was even more insensitive to changes in the GAPDH activity; in this case GAPDH was also present in a large excess and had no control over the glycolytic flux.     

Identification and characterization of a cystathionine beta/gamma-lyase from Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris MG1363

This paper describes the nucleotide sequence of a gene encoding cystathionine beta/gamma-lyase from Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris MG1363, its overexpression in Escherichia coli and some functional characteristics of the purified recombinant protein.     

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase regulation in Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris MG1363 or relA mutant at low pH

AIMS: To analyse the phenotype of a relA acid-resistant mutant of Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris MG1363, and to compare the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase regulation in both strains. METHODS AND RESULTS: Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris MG1363 and the relA mutant affected in the (p)ppGpp synthetase were grown in a series of batch-mode fermentation at different pH-regulated conditions with glucose as carbon substrate. All the determinants of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) regulation were quantified. In L. lactis MG1363, the GAPDH was strongly inhibited in vitro by decreased pH values, but this inhibition was totally compensated in vivo by the lower NADH/NAD+ ratio and more efficiently by the important increase in the intracellular amount of GAPDH. In contrast to the wild type, GAPDH activity of the relA strain was not increased when grown at low pH but the level of GAPDH remained constitutively high. However, pH homeostasis was not improved in the relA mutant and it grew slower and exhibited a lower glycolytic flux than the wild-type strain at low pH. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a better resistance to acid stress, the increased survival in L. lactis relA mutant at low pH was not related with an improved pH homeostasis but was associated with a diminished capacity to maintain a high flux through glycolysis. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The phenotype of a strong acid-resistant L. lactis strain was established in acid conditions and some key metabolic parameters compared with the wild type. This analysis led to the conclusion that growth and survival seem to be antinomic parameters, since improving one of them leads to a decrease in the other one.     

Cloning and sequence analysis of putative histidine protein kinases isolated from Lactococcus lactis MG1363.

Eight recombinant plasmids harboring chromosomal fragments of Lactococcus lactis MG1363 were shown to phenotypically suppress a histidine protein kinase (HPK) deficiency in either of two different E. coli strains. Sequence analysis of the plasmid inserts revealed five different complete or partial open reading frames (ORFs) specifying proteins with high similarity to HPKs. One of the plasmids also harbored an additional ORF, unrelated to HPKs, with suppressing activity.