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.     

产抑菌素菌株SM—A的分离和鉴定

自市售酸乳酪中分离到一株乳球菌SM-A菌株。该菌株产生的抑菌素能抑制或杀死芽孢杆菌、葡萄球菌、微球菌、链球菌、棒杆菌和梭菌等革兰氏阳性细菌,但对革兰氏阴性细菌、霉菌和酵母无效。SM-A菌株多为链球状,也有成对存在。革兰氏染色阳性,抗酸染色阴性,兼性厌氧生长,最适生长温度32℃,不形成芽孢,无荚膜和鞭毛,不运动;可从多种糖类产酸,但不产气;接触酶、苯丙氨酸脱氨酶和酪氨酸脱羧酶均为阴性,精氨酸双水解酶阳性;不液化明胶,还原石蕊牛奶并胨化,生长温度范围10～43℃,DNA中G Cmol为36.4％。经鉴定,SM-A菌株为乳酸乳球菌乳酸亚种(Lactococcus lactis subsp.lactis)。     

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。     

Construction of a food-grade host/vector system for Lactococcus lactis based on the lactose operon

Abstract A plasmid-based food-grade vector system was developed for Lactococcus lactis by exploiting the genes for lactose metabolism. L. lactis MGS267 is a plasmid-free strain containing the entire lactose operon as a chromosomal insertion. The lacF gene was deleted from this strain by a double cross-over homologous recombination event. The lacF -deficient strain produced a Lac⁻ phenotype on indicator agar. A cloned copy of the lacF gene expressed on a plasmid was capable of complementing the lacF -deficient strain resulting in a Lac⁺ phenotype. This stably maintained system fits the requirements of a self-selecting vector system and has the potential to be exploited in the food industry.     

Purification,crystallization, and preliminary X-ray analysis of PepX,an X-prolyl dipeptidyl aminopeptidase from Lactococcus lactis

The X-prolyl dipeptidyl aminopeptidase PepX, a serine peptidase isolated originally from Lactococcus lactis subsp lactis NCDO 763, was cloned and overproduced in Escherichia coli. The enzyme was isolated in its active form in two purification steps. Crystals of PepX were grown by the hanging drop vapor diffusion method using polyethyleneglycol 4000 as precipitant at pH 5.0. The crystals are orthorhombic with cell dimensions a = 92.8 Å, b = 102.6 Å, and c = 101.6 Å, space group P2₁2₁2, and probably contain one monomer of 87.5 kDa in the asymmetric unit. The crystals, very stable under X-rays, diffract to at least 2.2 Å and are suitable for high-resolution structural analysis. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

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.     

Characterization of a plasmid involved with cointegrate formation and lactose metabolism in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis OZS1

A 55 kilobase (kb) plasmid (pOZS550) in the non-clumping Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis strain OZS1 carrying genes for lactose metabolism was characterised. A mobilizable cointegrate plasmid which is formed between pOZS550 and pOZS448 carries the necessary information for conjugation and transfer. Cointegrate formation was found to involve an insertional element located on pOZS550. The insertion sequence was found to be identical to ISS1 located on pSK08 in the clumping L. lactis subsp. lactis strain ML3. Restriction maps of pOZS550 and pSK08 were similar suggesting a close ancestral relationship, although pSK08, in addition to the lactose metabolism genes, expressed genes for proteinase activity and cell clumping, which were not expressed by pOZS550, and carried two copies of ISS1 compared to one on pOZS550. Furthermore, hybridization of the 18 base pair inverted repeat, of the insertion sequence, with various L. lactis subsp. lactis strains and two L. lactis subsp. cremoris strains showed moderate to strong hybridization to one plasmid in each organism.     

Cloning of a chromosomal fragment from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis partially complementing Escherichia coli recA functions

A recA-like gene was isolated from a gene library of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis by intergeneric complementation of an E. coli recA mutant. A plasmid was obtained which fully complemented the RecA response to DNA damaging agents and UV inducibility of prophage, but not P1 plating efficiency in an E. coli recA mutant. The cloned DNA fragment also partially complemented the rec mutation in Lc. lactis MMS36. Hybridization studies showed that there was no detectable sequence homology between the recA gene of E. coli and Lc. lactis subsp. lactis chromosomal DNA.     

Conjugative co-transfer of lactose and bacteriophage resistance plasmids from Streptococcus cremoris UC653

Abstract When conjugative transfer of lactose-fermenting ability (Lac) was observed between Streptococcus cremoris UC653 (donor) and S. lactis MG1363 Sm (recipient), 70% of the Lac⁺ transconjugants had acquired total resistance to phage 712 and propagated phage C2 at a lower efficiency and with a reduced plaque size. Plasmid analysis of transconjugants combined with curing experiments showed that the Lac and phage resistance markers were associated with plasmids of 26 and 50 MDa, respectively. Some transconjugants contained a large plasmid of either 77 or 83 MDa which coded for both Lac and phage resistance. The phage resistance mechanism did not act at the adsorption stage and was not affected by incubation at 37°C.