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Heterologous expression of enterocin AS‐48 in several strains of lactic acid bacteria
Author(s) -
Fernández M.,
MartínezBueno M.,
Martín M. C.,
Valdivia E.,
Maqueda M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2006.03194.x
Subject(s) - bacteriocin , biology , lactococcus , heterologous , bacteria , heterologous expression , enterococcus faecalis , lactococcus lactis , enterococcus , pediococcus , plasmid , lactobacillus , microbiology and biotechnology , genome , food spoilage , gene , lactic acid , genetics , recombinant dna , staphylococcus aureus
Aims: Enterococcus faecalis produces a cationic and circular enterocin, AS‐48, of 7149 Da, the genetic determinants of which are located within the pMB2 plasmid. We have compared enterocin AS‐48 production by different enterococci species with that of other ‘safe’ lactic acid bacteris (LAB) ( GRAS status ) and looked into the subsequent application of this enterocin in food production. Methods and Results: In an effort to exploit this system for the heterologous expression of enterocin AS‐48, a number of vectors containing the as‐48 cluster were constructed and used to transform several LAB strains (genera Enterococcus , Lactococcus and Lactobacillus ) Conclusion: Heterologous production of enterocin AS‐48 failed when bacteria other than those belonging to the genus Enterococcus were used as hosts, although expression of a partial level of resistance against AS‐48 were always detected, ruling out the possibility of a lack of recognition of the enterococcal promoters. Significance and Impact of the Study: Our results reveal the special capacity of species from the genus Enterococcus to produce AS‐48, an enterocin that requires a post‐transcriptional modification to generate a circular peptide with a wide range of inhibitory activity against pathogenic and spoilage bacteria. Preliminary experiments in foodstuffs using nonvirulent enterococci with interesting functional properties reveal the possibility of a biotechnological application of these transformants.