乳链菌肽前体基因（nisZ）在乳酸乳球菌中的克隆和表达

用PCR技术从克隆有完整乳链菌肽生物合成基因簇（来自于乳链菌肽高产菌株L.lactis AL2)的重组噬菌体λHJ-3中扩增了编码乳链菌肽的前体基因,与pMG36e连接得到重组质粒pHJ201,用电击转化法将pHJ201转化到L.lactis NZ9800中,经活性测定和Tricine－SDS－PAGE电泳证实乳链菌肽前体基因获得了功能表达。DNA序列分析表明乳链菌肽高产菌株L.lactis AL2产生的是NisinZ。发现pHJ201d L.lactis NZ9800 中有良好的稳定性。     

Oligomerized backbone pilin helps piliated Lactococcus lactis to withstand shear flow

The present work focuses on the role of pili present at the cell surface of Lactococcus lactis in bacterial adhesion to abiotic (hydrophobic polystyrene) and biotic (mucin-coated polystyrene) surfaces. Native pili-displaying strains and isogenic derivatives in which pilins or sortase C structural genes had been modified were used. Surface physico-chemistry, morphology and shear-flow-induced detachment of lactococcal cells were evaluated. The involvement of pili in L. lactis adhesion was clearly demonstrated, irrespective of the surface characteristics (hydrophobic/hydrophilic, presence or not of specific binding sites). The accessory pilin, PilC, and the backbone pilin, PilB, were revealed to play a major role in adhesion, provided that the PilB was present in its polymerized form. Within the population fraction that remained attached to the surface under increasing shear flow, different association behaviors were observed, showing that pili could serve as anchoring sites thus hampering the effect of shear flow on cell orientation and detachment.     

Differences in sensitivity to NADH of purified pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes of Enterococcus faecalis, Lactococcus lactis, Azotobacter vinelandii and Escherichia coli: Implications for their activity in vivo

Abstract The effect of NADH on the activity of the purified pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes (PDHc) of Enterococcus (Ec.) faecalis, Lactococcus lactis, Azotobacter vinelandii and Escherichia coli was determined in vitro. It was found that the PDHc of E. coli and L. lactis was active only at relatively low NADH/NAD ratios, whereas the PDHc of Ec. faecalis was inhibited only at high NADH/NAD ratios. The PDHc of Azotobacter vinelandii showed an intermediate sensitivity. The organisms were grown in chemostat culture under conditions that led to different intracellular NADH/NAD ratios and the PDHc activities in vivo could be calculated from the specific rates of product formation. Under anaerobic growth conditions, only Ec. faecelis expressed PDHc activity in vivo. The activities in vivo of the complexes of the different organisms were in good agreement with their properties determined in vitro. The physiological consequences of these results are discussed.     

Nucleosomal Positioning and Genetic Divergence Study Based on DNA Flexibility Map

Abstract

Based on worm like chain model, DNA structural parameters—tilt, roll and rise, derived from crystallographic database have been used to determine the flexibility of DNA that regulates the nucleosomal translational positioning. Theoretically derived data has been compared to the experimental values available in Ioshikhes and Trifonov's database. The methodology has been extended to determine the flexibility of 18S rRNA genome in eukarya, where yeast shows a distinct difference when compared with mammals like human, mouse and rabbit.     

人金属硫蛋白在乳酸菌中的融合表达及其预防食源性镉污染的应用

目的:镉(Cd)是一种重要的环境污染物,其具有半衰期长、不能生物降解等特性使之易于在人体重要脏器中蓄积并对人身体健康造成不可逆的损伤。为此,减少镉的摄入,尤其是经胃肠道,是预防人体慢性镉中毒的有效方法。方法:构建以α-半乳糖苷酶作为筛选标记、表达金属硫蛋白融合蛋白(GST-SUMO-MT)的重组乳酸乳球菌MG1363/p M-GSMT。原子吸收光谱法分析重组乳酸菌对Cd~(2+)和Zn~+的结合能力。以灌胃方式,对雄性Sprague-Dawley大鼠每天口服不同剂量的重组乳酸菌(2×10~9~2×10~(11)CFU/d)及CdCl_2溶液[5mg/(kg·d)],连续处理56天。收集实验动物肝、肾、脑及睾丸,利用原子吸收光谱法检测这些脏器中镉离子的含量。生化分析检测血清中尿素及丙氨酸转氨酶的含量。石蜡切片及苏木精-伊红染色分析各组织的病理变化。结果:获得不含抗生素抗性的重组乳酸菌MG1363/p M-GSMT,其吸附Cd~(2+)、Zn~(2+)能力比对照组分别提高3.52倍和1.60倍。动物实验结果显示,镉能在肝、肾、脑及睾丸中蓄积,并对这些器官造成明显的病理损伤。原子吸收光谱分析、血清生化指标及病理切片结果都显示,重组乳酸菌能有效降低胃肠道中镉的摄入,进而减少Cd~(2+)在各脏器中的蓄积及对器官功能的损伤。结论:为预防人体食源性慢性镉中毒提供了一种有效的生物材料和使用方法。     

Dynamics of pyruvate metabolism in Lactococcus lactis.

The pyruvate metabolism in the lactic acid bacterium Lactococcus lactis was studied in anaerobic cultures under transient conditions. During growth of L. lactis in continuous culture at high dilution rate, homolactic product formation was observed, i.e., lactate was produced as the major end product. At a lower dilution rate, the pyruvate metabolism shifted towards mixed acid-product formation where formate, acetate, and ethanol were produced in addition to lactate. The regulation of the shift in pyruvate metabolism was investigated by monitoring the dynamic behavior of L. lactis in continuous cultures subjected to step changes in dilution rate. Both shift-up and shift-down experiments were carried out, and these experiments showed that the enzyme pyruvate formate-lyase (PFL) plays a key role in the regulation of the shift. Pyruvate formate-lyase in vivo activity was regulated both at the level of gene expression and by allosteric modulation of the enzyme. A simple mathematical model was proposed to estimate the relative significance of the regulatory mechanisms involved.     

Molecular analyses of glucosyltransferase genes among strains of Streptococcus mutans

Three glucosyltransferase (GTase) genes (gtfB, gtfC and gtfD) were cloned and sequenced from clinically isolated strains of Streptococcus mutans MT8148 (serotype c), MT4239 (c), MT4245 (e), MT4467 (e) and MT4251 (f), respectively. Comparison of the gtf genes revealed that interstrain difference of gtfB and gtfD was limited, while gtfC showed significant interstrain variations. Similar to gtfB and gtfD, gtfC possessed five direct repeats composed of homologous unit in the carboxyl-terminal portion. The repeating unit consisted of 63–65 amino acid residues and is responsible for glucan binding. The gtfC gene from S. mutans MT4245 lacked the fourth unit. Multiple alignment with the gtf sequence of strain GS-5 (c) revealed several changes in these gtf genes due to frameshift mutations. The peptides encoded by the gtfB, gtfC and gtfD genes of GS-5 were 1, 80, and 32 amino acid residues shorter than those of the test strains except strain MT4245.     

Conjugative transfer of raffinose metabolism in Lactococcus lactis

Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis strains isolated from various sprouted seed products were able to transfer the ability to ferment raffinose in conjugation experiments at frequencies between 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻⁷ per donor cell. There was no evidence of plasmid transfer, but pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis showed that all transconjugants had acquired large chromosomal insertions indicative of conjugative transposons. Raffinose transconjugants contained inserts of 45 or 60 kb at one of two chromosomal sites, and these inserts contained two copies of an element related to the lactococcal insertion sequence ISS1.     

Changes in biosynthesis of exopolysaccharide in Lactococcus lactis subspecies cremoris treated by moderate pulsed electric field treatment

Metabolome analysis and physicochemical analyses were executed with cell extracts of a Lactococcus lactis subspecies cremoris strain treated by moderate pulsed electric field (PEF) to elucidate the mechanism of enhanced production of exopolysaccharide (EPS) by the treatment. Metabolome analysis by capillary electrophoresis time of flight mass spectrometry annotated 224 metabolites from the cytoplasmic extract of the strain, which, however, showed no significant changes in metabolites related to the EPS production. Electron microscopic observation and chemical analysis of undecaprenoids as carrier of EPS biosynthetic intermediates suggested that PEF treatment dissociated immature EPSs from the intermediates due to the focal electro-condensation of hydrogen ions at the cell surface. Thus, liberated undecaprenyl phosphates were recycled efficiently, which resulted in mass increase of EPS with smaller molecular weight. The study suggested the feasibility of moderate PEF treatment as a food processing technique and revealed the mechanism of enhanced production of EPS by the treatment.