0000000000002523
AUTHOR
Hervé Prévost
Effect of chelatants on gellan gel rheological properties and setting temperature for immobilization of living bifidobacteria.
The effect of various concentrations of sequestrants (sodium citrate, sodium metaphosphate, and EDTA) was studied on gellan gel (1.5-2.5% (w/v)) setting temperature and rheological properties. Addition of EDTA between 0 and 0.8% (w/v) led to a progressive decrease of setting temperature. Citrate and metaphosphate decreased this parameter when added up to 0.4 or 0.6%, depending on gellan gum concentration, eventually resulting in the absence of gel formation at room temperature for the 1.5% gellan solution containing 0.4% citrate. This effect was accompanied by a significant decrease of gel strength and stiffness and might be attributed to the binding of the divalent cations required for cha…
Citrate lyases of lactic acid bacteria
Citrate Iyase is a key enzyme of the citrate metabolism which is involved in flavor and texture of many fermented milk products. Citrate Iyase which catalyses the cleavage of citrate into oxaloacetate and acetate is a multienzyme complex composed of three proteins: an acyl carrier protein (ACP); a citrate, acetate-ACP transferase; and a citryl-S-ACP Iyase. The citrate Iyase is active only when the thioester residue of the prosthetic group bound to ACP is acetylated. In the presence of citrate, the transferase mediates the formation of citryl-S-acyl carrier protein by acyl exchange and liberation of acetate. Then the Iyase subunit cleaves the citryl-S-ACP with libe- ration of oxaloacetate an…
Genetic organization of the citCDEF locus and identification of mae and clyR genes from Leuconostoc mesenteroides.
ABSTRACT In this paper, we describe two open reading frames coding for a NAD-dependent malic enzyme ( mae ) and a putative regulatory protein ( clyR ) found in the upstream region of citCDEFG of Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris 195. The transcriptional analysis of the citrate lyase locus revealed one polycistronic mRNA covering the mae and citCDEF genes. This transcript was detected only on RNA prepared from cells grown in the presence of citrate. Primer extension experiments suggest that clyR and the citrate lyase operon are expressed from a bidirectional A-T-rich promoter region located between mae and clyR.
Mechanism of the Citrate Transporters in Carbohydrate and Citrate Cometabolism in Lactococcus and Leuconostoc Species
ABSTRACT Citrate metabolism in the lactic acid bacterium Leuconostoc mesenteroides generates an electrochemical proton gradient across the membrane by a secondary mechanism (C. Marty-Teysset, C. Posthuma, J. S. Lolkema, P. Schmitt, C. Divies, and W. N. Konings, J. Bacteriol. 178:2178–2185, 1996). Reports on the energetics of citrate metabolism in the related organism Lactococcus lactis are contradictory, and this study was performed to clarify this issue. Cloning of the membrane potential-generating citrate transporter (CitP) of Leuconostoc mesenteroides revealed an amino acid sequence that is almost identical to the known sequence of the CitP of Lactococcus lactis . The cloned gene was exp…
Purification of Leuconostoc mesenteroides citrate lyase and cloning and characterization of the citCDEFG gene cluster
ABSTRACT A citrate lyase (EC 4.1.3.6 ) was purified 25-fold from Leuconostoc mesenteroides and was shown to contain three subunits. The first 42 amino acids of the β subunit were identified, as well as an internal peptide sequence spanning some 20 amino acids into the α subunit. Using degenerated primers from these sequences, we amplified a 1.2-kb DNA fragment by PCR from Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris . This fragment was used as a probe for screening a Leuconostoc genomic bank to identify the structural genes. The 2.7-kb gene cluster encoding citrate lyase of L. mesenteroides is organized in three open reading frames, citD , citE , and citF , encoding, respectively, the three ci…
Medium for Screening Leuconostoc oenos Strains Defective in Malolactic Fermentation
A new sensitive medium was developed to screen and isolate mutagenic Leuconostoc oenos strains defective in malolactic fermentation. The essential components of the medium included fructose (22 mM), l -malic acid (74.6 mM), bromocresol green (as pH indicator), and cellulose powder. The wild-type colonies turned blue, but defective malolactic colonies gave an acid reaction and remained yellow-green.
Citrate permease gene expression inLactococcus lactissubsp.lactisstrains IL1403 and MG1363
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.
Instability of plasmid-encoded citrate permease in Leuconostoc
M. KIHAL, H. PREVOST, M.E. LHOTTE, D.Q. HUANG AND C. DIVIES. 1996. The conversion from citrate positive (Cit+) to citrate negative (Cit-) phenotype of six strains of Leuconostoc mesetiteroides was followed during growth in milk and buffered or unbuffered MRS medium at 30 or 37°C. High rate of loss of Cit+ phenotype was observed. The Cit- phenotype was found to be linked to the loss of 22 to 23 kb plasmids. All Cit- mutants isolated from Leuc. mesenteroides subsp. cremoris 195 reverted spontaneously to the Cit+ phenotype. Hybridization experiments using a 0.8 kb fragment of the citP gene of Leuc. mesenteroides showed that all the plasmids which were lost in Cit- mutants encoded for a citrate…
Theme 4: Immobilized Cell Technology in Wine Production
AbstractIn spite of its traditional nature, wine making is largely concerned with the progress of biotechnology. High cell density reactors have potential for enology: improved performance of alcoholic and malolactic fermentations, smaller scale fermentation facilities, adaptation to continuous processes. Among the immobilization techniques, cell entrapment in alginate beads seems to be an impressive one. Alcoholic fermentation of wine, malolactic fermentation, bottle fermentation known as “Methode champenoise” and sparkling wine are among the industrial applications. Knowledge of kinetics and physiology in microorganisms in heterogeneous media has expanded in the last few years. The use of…
Construction of food-grade mutants of lactic acid bacteria
La selection de ferments lactiques de qualite est une preoccupation constante des industriels laitiers. A l'heure actuelle, l'approche industrielle consiste a rechercher les nouvelles souches dans une collection de souches provenant d'isolats naturels. L'amelioration des connaissances concernant les bacteries lactiques permet desormais de proposer une alternative a cette technique de criblage d'une collection. Il s'agit de la modification genetique dirigee des souches au moyen d'outils genetiques. Les outils genetiques permettent d'utiliser des processus cellulaires naturels, la transposition et la recombinaison homologue, afin de modifier precisement le genome bacterien. Ces outils permett…
Diacetyl and acetoin production from the co-metabolism of citrate and xylose by Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides.
The co-metabolism of citrate plus xylose by Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides results in a growth stimulation, an increase in D-lactate and acetate production and repression of ethanol production. This correlated well with the levels of key enzymes involved. A partial repression of alcohol dehydrogenase and a marked stimulation of acetate kinase were observed. High citrate bioconversion yields in diacetyl plus acetoin were obtained at pH 5.2 in batch (11.5%) or in chemostat (up to 17.4%) culture. In contrast, no diacetyl or acetoin was detected in citrate plus glucose fermentation.
Cream fermentation by a mixed culture of lactococci entrapped in two-layer calcium alginate gel beads
This investigation was directed towards the development of a process which produces a fermented cream of greatly reduced cell number.Lactococcus lactis subsp.Lactis andLactococcus lactis subsp.lactis biovardiacetylactis were entrapped separately in normal or two-layer Ca-alginate gel beads. Pasteurized cream (31% fat content) was inoculated with free-cells and with normal or two-layer beads. When 8% of the total volume was occupied by the gel, there was 300–800 times more inoculum in this system and the fermentation time was considerably reduced (5h against 18h). When pH 5.0 was reached, the residual free-cell count was 150 and 1800 times less than for a classical inoculation method with fr…
Enterococcus asini sp. nov. isolated from the caecum of donkeys (Equus asinus)
Several Gram-positive, non-spore-forming and non-motile bacteria consisting of pairs or chains of cocci were isolated during an investigation of the bacterial flora of the caecum of donkeys. Physiological and metabolic data indicated that the strains belong to the genus Enterococcus; phenotypic traits of these organisms were not consistent with any of the currently known Enterococcus species. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis placed these strains in the genus Enterococcus. Their closest relatives are Enterococcus avium, Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus pseudoavium with a sequence similarity of 97.4%. This group of strains can be differentiated from the other Enterococcus spp. by their ph…