Expression of a thermostable xylanase gene from Bacillus coagulans ST-6 in Lactococcus lactis

AIMS: The aim of the study is to evaluate whether xylanase can be used as a potential reporter gene for cloning and expression studies in Lactococcus. METHODS AND RESULTS: The 750 bp xylanase gene was amplified and subcloned into the unique NheI restriction enzyme site of pMG36e and subsequently transformed into competent Escherichia coli XLI-blue MRF cells and Lactococcus lactis cells. Bacterial culture containing pMG36e-Xy has an enzyme activity of 390 microg xylose ml(-1) culture 30 min(-1), respectively, when compared with 40 microg xylose ml(-1) culture 30 min(-1) for the negative control (plasmidless strain). CONCLUSIONS: The thermostable xylanase gene was successfully expressed in both E. coli and L. lactis. The activity of xylanase can be easily detected by the formation of visible clearing zones around the transformed colonies on Remazol Brilliant Blue-Xylan (RBB-Xylan) agar media. However, there were some significant differences in the optimum growth temperature and plasmid stability in the new clones. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The constructed reporter vector has the potential to be used as a reporter system for Lactococcus as well as E. coli, and it is an addition to the pool of lactococcal vector systems.     

PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PULLULANASE FROM Lactococcus lactis

This paper describes a simple and efficient method of isolation of a plullulanase type I from amylolytic lactic acid bacteria (ALAB). Extracellular pullulanase type I was purified from a cell-free culture supernatant of Lactococcus lactis IBB 500 by using ammonium sulfate fractionation and dialysis (instead of ultrafiltration), and ion-exchange chromatography with CM Sepharose FF followed by gel filtration chromatography with Sephadex G-150 as the final step. A final purification factor of 14.36 was achieved. The molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated as 73.9 kD. The optimum temperature for the enzyme activity was 45°C and the optimum pH was 4.5. Pullulanase activity was increased by addition Co²⁺ and completely inhibited by Hg²⁺. The enzyme activity was specifically directed toward α-1,6 glycosidic linkages of pullulan giving maltotriose units. Enzymatic hydrolysis of starch and amylose produced a mixture of maltose and maltotriose.     

Novel multiplex polymerase chain reaction primer set for identification of Lactococcus species

Aims: The gram‐positive bacterial genus Lactococcus has been taxonomically classified into seven species (Lactococcus lactis, Lactococcus garvieae, Lactococcus piscium, Lactococcus plantarum, Lactococcus raffinolactis, Lactococcus chungangensis and Lactococcus fujiensis). This study aimed to develop a novel multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer set for the identification of the seven lactococcal species, as well as to differentiate the two industrially important dairy subspecies, L. lactis subsp. lactis and L. lactis subsp. cremoris. Methods and Results: A multiplex PCR primer set was designed based on the nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA gene of the seven lactococcal species. The specificity of the established one‐step multiplex PCR scheme was verified using more than 200 bacterial strains, in which a complete sequence match was confirmed by partial sequencing of their 16S rRNA gene. Conclusions: The one‐step multiplex PCR enables the identification and speciation of bacterial strains belonging to the genus Lactococcus and the differentiation of strains of L. lactis subsp. lactis and L. lactis subsp. cremoris. Significance and Impact of the Study: This work provides an efficient method for identification of lactococcal strains of industrial importance.     

Application of the ligase chain reaction to the detection of nisinA and nisinZ genes in Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis

Abstract This paper reports on the application of the ligase chain reaction (LCR) to the specific detection of variants of the nisin structural gene (nisinA and nisinZ) in nisin producing strains of Lactococcus lactis ssp lactis . The LCR assay was used to screen nisin producing strains to determine which form of the nisin structural gene they contained. This method of differentiating the nisin structural gene variants provides a useful alternative to the only other available genetic differentiation, that of sequencing the gene.     

Insertion sequence analysis of protoplast fused strains of Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris

Abstract The use of insertion sequence probes for the analysis of fusants obtained following protoplast fusion is described. Hybridization of both total and plasmid DNA from parent and fusant strains with probes to IS 904 and IS S1 showed that of the four protoplast fusions examined, three appeared to involve a rearrangement of genetic material while in the fourth the fusant appeared similar to one of the parental strains. This method of analysis provides more information about the changes induced by protoplast fusion than that obtained by monitoring the acquisition or loss of individual characteristics.     

Physical analysis of in vivo pCI301 fusion plasmids in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis

Abstract In vivo fusion plasmids identified following conjugative mobilization of pCI301, the 75-kilobase (kb) lactose-proteinase plasmid of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis UC317, were characterized. These plasmids (95 kb) were generated from fusion-deletion events involving pCI301 and the 38-kb UC317-derived cryptic plasmid, pCI303. Recombinant plasmids were separable into distinct classes based on their associated phenotypes and restriction maps. The formation of pCI301: : pCI303 composite plasmids within strain UC317 was also demonstrated.     

Multilocus enzyme typing of human and animal strains of Clostridium perfringens

Abstract The stability of plasmids introduced in Lactobacillus lactis IL1403 was followed in continuous cultures. Four strains with or without pIL205 and pIL252 or pIL253 (low or high copy number) were studied. pIL205 was remarkably stable even after 180 generations, suggesting the presence of a partitioning system which is still unidentified. In contrast, pIL252 and pIL253 were unstable, in the presence as well as in the absence of pIL205. The multicopy plasmid pIL253 was nevertheless more stable than pIL252 (90% loss after 180 and 60 generations, respectively). The instability was not related to an incompatibility between pIL205 and pIL252 (or pIL253). The segregational instability of pIL252 and pIL253 plasmids could be explained by the loss of the resolvase gene during their construction.     

乳酸乳酸球菌AL2产生的乳链菌肽的提纯和性质

用NaCl饱和的乳酸乳酸球菌(Lactococcus lactis subsp. Lactis)AL2发酵液经正丙醇提取和CM-Sephadex C-25柱层析,得到聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳纯的乳链菌肽组分,比活力从24427IU/mg提高到39865IU/mg,活力回收为41.7％。Α—胰凝乳蛋白酶可使乳链菌肽丧失活性;在低pH条件下,乳链菌肽对热较稳定;对许多革兰氏阳性菌有强烈抑制作用,而对革兰氏阴性菌、酵母菌和霉菌没有作用。     

Structure modeling and functional analysis of recombinant dextransucrase from Weissella confusa Cab3 expressed in Lactococcus lactis

The dextransucrase gene from Weissella confusa Cab3, having an open reading frame of 4.2?kb coding for 1,402?amino acids, was amplified, cloned, and expressed in Lactococcus lactis. The recombinant dextransucrase, WcCab3-rDSR was expressed as extracellular enzyme in M17 medium with a specific activity of 1.5?U/mg which after purification by PEG-400 fractionation gave 6.1?U/mg resulting in 4-fold purification. WcCab3-rDSR was expressed as soluble and homogeneous protein of molecular mass, approximately, 180?kDa as analyzed by SDS-PAGE. It displayed maximum enzyme activity at 35°C at pH 5.0 in 50?mM sodium acetate buffer. WcCab3-rDSR gave K_m of 6.2?mM and V_m of 6.3?µmol/min/mg. The characterization of dextran synthesized by WcCab3-rDSR by Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analyses revealed the structural similarities with the dextran produced by the native dextransucrase. The modeled structure of WcCab3-rDSR using the crystal structures of dextransucrase from Lactobacillus reuteri (protein data bank, PDB id: 3HZ3) and Streptococcus mutans (PDB id: 3AIB) as templates depicted the presence of different domains such as A, B, C, IV, and V. The domains A and B are circularly permuted in nature having (β/α)₈ triose phosphate isomerase-barrel fold making the catalytic core of WcCab3-rDSR. The structure superposition and multiple sequence alignment analyses of WcCab3-rDSR with available structures of enzymes from family 70 GH suggested that the amino acid residue Asp510 acts as a nucleophile, Glu548 acts as a catalytic acid/base, whereas Asp621 acts as a transition-state stabilizer and these residues are found to be conserved within the family.