Expression of hepatitis B virus surface antigen determinants in Lactococcus lactis for oral vaccination.

Lactococcus lactis with non-pathogenic and non-colonizing properties is an attractive candidate for delivering biologically active proteins by mucosal routes. In this report we described recombinant L. lactis applicable for the development of live mucosal vaccine against hepatitis B virus (HBV). The PreS region of the HBV surface antigen alone or combined with "a" determinant of S region (PreSa) was cloned and expressed in the food grade bacterium L. lactis using a nisin-controlled expression (NICE) system. Western blot analysis indicated that both PreS and PreSa fusion proteins were successfully expressed in L. lactis after nisin induction. Oral immunization of BALB/c mice with PreS and PreSa-producing strains induced both mucosal (intestinal IgA) and systemic (serum IgG) immune responses against HBV at the same magnitude. Two additional groups of mice given L. lactis expressing human interferon-alpha 2b as an adjuvant with the PreS or PreSa-producing strains produced higher IgG but not IgA antibody responses. These results indicated that the lactococci-derived vaccines could be promising candidates as alternative HBV vaccines for preventing hepatitis B.

Autoregulation of lantibiotic bovicin HJ50 biosynthesis by the BovK-BovR two-component signal transduction system in Streptococcus bovis HJ50.

Streptococcus bovis HJ50 produces a lacticin 481-like 33-amino-acid-residue lantibiotic, designated bovicin HJ50. bovK-bovR in the bovicin HJ50 biosynthetic gene cluster is predicted to be a two-component signal transduction system involved in sensing signals and regulating gene expression. Disruption of bovK or bovR resulted in the abrogation of bovicin HJ50 production, suggesting both genes play important roles in bovicin HJ50 biosynthesis. Addition of exogenous bovicin HJ50 peptide to cultures of a bovM mutant that lost the capability for bovicin HJ50 production and structural gene bovA transcription in S. bovis HJ50 induced dose-dependent transcription of the bovA gene, demonstrating that bovicin HJ50 production was normally autoregulated. The transcription of bovA was no longer induced by bovicin HJ50 in bovK and bovR disruption mutants, suggesting that BovK-BovR plays an essential role in the signal transduction regulating bovicin HJ50 biosynthesis. A phosphorylation assay indicated that BovK has the ability to autophosphorylate and subsequently transfer the phosphoryl group to the downstream BovR protein to carry on signal transduction. Electromobility shift assays (EMSA) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene expression assays showed the specific binding of BovR to the bovA promoter, indicating that BovR regulates bovA expression by direct binding between them. Taken together, bovicin HJ50 biosynthesis is induced by bovicin HJ50 itself and regulated via the two-component signal transduction system BovK-BovR.

Dissection of the bridging pattern of bovicin HJ50, a lantibiotic containing a characteristic disulfide bridge.

Bovicin HJ50, a lantibiotic produced by Streptococcus bovis HJ50, is featured by the presence of a disulfide bridge. This study described a simplified in vitro synthetic strategy for producing bovicin HJ50 totally based on Escherichia coli expression system. In this strategy termed as Semi-in vitro biosynthesis (SIVB), prepeptide BovA and modification enzyme BovM were co-expressed to generate posttranslationally modified BovA. Then a specific protease BovT150 was employed to remove the leader peptide in vitro and produce biologically active bovicin HJ50. Via SIVB, a series of ring-broken bovicin mutants C13A, C21A, C29A and T10A/C32A were prepared by introducing site-directed mutations into bovA gene. Further, we analyzed the bridging patterns of these mutants through chemical modification and successfully clarified the bridging pattern of bovicin HJ50. The results showed that two thioether bridges exist between Thr8 and Cys13, and Thr10 and Cys32, respectively, and that the disulfide bond bridging Cys21 and 29 is very relevant for the antimicrobial activity of bovicin HJ50. This is the first study that reports the bridging pattern of bovicin HJ50.

[Enhanced nisin production by overexpression of nisin immunity gene nisI in the nisin-producing strain].

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to enhance nisin production by overexpression of nisin immunity gene nisI in nisin-producing strains. METHODS: Nisin immunity gene nisI with a strong promoter P59 was cloned into vector pHJ201 and introduced into Lacotococcus lactis NZ9800, resulting in a recombinant strain L. lactis NZ9800/pHMI. Then the differences between the recombinant strain and the control strain L. lactis NZ9800/pHJ201 were analyzed in several aspects, including their growth curves, nisin resistance level and antibacterial activity against indicator strain Microccus flavus NCIB 8166. RESULTS: The overexpression of nisI had no significant difference in growth rate between recombinant strain and contrast strain. However, it promoted recombinant strain tolerance 25% higer nisin resistance level and stronger antibacterial activity against M. flavus NCIB 8166, which was increased by 32% and 25% when fermented for 6 and 8 hours, respectively. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that overexpression of nisI gene in the nisin producing strain can effectively enhance nisin resistence level and thus improve nisin production.

[Advances in the study of nisin resistance--a review].

Nisin, a lantibiotic produced by some species of Lactococcus lactis, has broad antibacterial spectrum against Gram-positive bacteria species, especially those with close phylogenetic relationship to the nisin producing strain. The broad use of nisin did not lead to widespread resistance. However, some non-nisin producing bacteria could develop certain mechanisms of resistance against nisin when growing under laboratory or nature selection pressure. Nisin resistance mainly involved two strategies, namely, the non-specific physiological isolation mechanism (by the change of cell wall or membrane structure and composition) and the specific protease-mediated mechanism. This review introduced the advances in the study of nisin resistance mechanism.

Improvement of human interferon alpha secretion by Lactococcus lactis.

To improve the secretion and expression of human interferon alpha 2b (IFN) in Lactococcus lactis, a synthetic pro-peptide, LEISSTCDA (LEISS), was fused to the N-terminus of IFN. This gave a higher secretion efficiency (12% vs. 5%) and yield (approximately 2.8-fold) of IFN. The signal peptide, SP(SlpA) (SlpA, an S-layer protein of Lactobacillus brevis), was also tested to secrete IFN instead of SP(Usp45) (Usp45, the main secreted protein in L. lactis). This gave increased IFN secretion (approximately 3-fold) but lower total production. All the recombinant IFN had appropriate bioactivities in an antiviral assay.

[Improving heat and pH stability of nisin by site-directed mutagenesis].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to optimize the property of nisin through altering its specific amino acid by site-directed mutagenesis method. METHODS: On the basis of M21K nisinZ, a former reported nisinZ mutant that exhibited antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, the 29th amino acid of it was mutated from serine to lysine. The mutant M21K/S29K nisZ gene was cloned into vector pMG36e and the recombinant plasmid was introduced into Lacotococcus lactis NZ9800. The resulting M21K/S29K nisinZ was then isolated and purified, and its antibacterial activity, antibacterial spectrum and stability were analyzed and compared to those of M21K nisinZ and nisinZ. RESULTS: Compared with wild-type nisinZ and M21K nisinZ, the M21K/S29K nisinZ displayed reduced antimicrobial activity, but showed significantly increased stabilities to heat and pH stress. Moreover, M21K/S29K nisinZ also exhibited antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria as M21K nisinZ did. CONCLUSION: By changing the 29th amino acid of nisin, we can optimize the property of nisin, especially its stability to heat and pH stress.

Adverse effect of nisin resistance protein on nisin-induced expression system in Lactococcus lactis.

Nisin is a bacteriocin that is widely used as a safe, natural preservative in food products. Nisin-controlled gene expression (NICE) systems and food-grade expression systems with nisin resistance as the selection marker are increasingly attracting attention owing to their food-grade statuses. However, the putative influence of nisin resistance on NICE systems deserves consideration when nisin is used as both the inducer and selection agent in lactococcal strains. In this paper, we described the cloning of the nisin resistance gene (nsr) and studied the effect of the encoded nisin resistance protein (NSR) on the efficiency of the NICE system in Lactococcus lactis, with the green fluorescence protein as the reporter protein. Results showed that NSR expression significantly weakened the inducing activity of nisin. Further studies have confirmed that this reduction in the inducing activity of nisin was a consequence of the proteolytic activity of NSR against nisin; the digested products showed drastically decreased inducing activities than native nisin. Conclusively, the expression of NSR imposes an adverse effect on the NICE system in L. lactis.

Novel mechanism for nisin resistance via proteolytic degradation of nisin by the nisin resistance protein NSR.

Nisin is a 34-residue antibacterial peptide produced by Lactococcus lactis that is active against a wide range of gram-positive bacteria. In non-nisin-producing L. lactis, nisin resistance could be conferred by a specific nisin resistance gene (nsr), which encodes a 35-kDa nisin resistance protein (NSR). However, the mechanism underlying NSR-mediated nisin resistance is poorly understood. Here we demonstrated that the protein without the predicted N-terminal signal peptide sequence, i.e., NSRSD, could proteolytically inactivate nisin in vitro by removing six amino acids from the carboxyl "tail" of nisin. The truncated nisin (nisin(1-28)) displayed a markedly reduced affinity for the cell membrane and showed significantly diminished pore-forming potency in the membrane. A 100-fold reduction of bactericidal activity was detected for nisin(1-28) in comparison to that for the intact nisin. In vivo analysis indicated that NSR localized on the cell membrane and endowed host strains with nisin resistance by degrading nisin as NSRSD did in vitro, whereas NSRSD failed to confer resistance upon the host strain. In conclusion, we showed that NSR is a nisin-degrading protease. This NSR-mediated proteolytic cleavage represents a novel mechanism for nisin resistance in non-nisin-producing L. lactis.

Characteristics of the bovicin HJ50 gene cluster in Streptococcus bovis HJ50.

Bovicin HJ50 is a new lantibiotic containing a disulfide bridge produced by Streptococcus bovis HJ50; its encoding gene bovA was reported in our previous publication. To identify other genes involved in bovicin HJ50 production, DNA fragments flanking bovA were cloned and sequenced. The bovicin HJ50 biosynthesis gene locus was encoded by a 9.9 kb region of chromosomal DNA and consisted of at least nine genes in the following order: bovA, -M, -T, -E, -F, ORF1, ORF2, bovK and bovR. A thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase gene named sdb1 was located downstream of bovR. A knockout mutant of this gene retained antimicrobial activity and the molecular mass of bovicin HJ50 in the mutant was the same as that of bovicin HJ50 in S. bovis HJ50, implying that sdb1 is not involved in bovicin HJ50 production. Transcriptional analyses showed that bovA, bovM and bovT constituted an operon, and the transcription start site of the bovA promoter was located at a G residue 45 bp upstream of the translation start codon for bovA, while bovE through bovR were transcribed together and the transcription start site of the bovE promoter was located at a C residue 35 bp upstream of bovE. We also demonstrated successful heterologous expression of bovicin HJ50 in Lactococcus lactis MG1363, which lacks thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase genes; this showed that thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase genes other than sdb1 are not essential for bovicin HJ50 biosynthesis.

Secretory expression of nattokinase from Bacillus subtilis YF38 in Escherichia coli.

Nattokinase producing bacterium, B. subtilis YF38, was isolated from douchi, using the fibrin plate method. The gene encoding this enzyme was cloned by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Cytoplasmic expression of this enzyme in E. coli resulted in inactive inclusion bodies. But with the help of two different signal peptides, the native signal peptide of nattokinase and the signal peptide of PelB, active nattokinase was successfully expressed in E. coli with periplasmic secretion, and the nattokinase in culture medium displayed high fibrinolytic activity. The fibrinolytic activity of the expressed enzyme in the culture was determined to reach 260 urokinase units per micro-liter when the recombinant strain was induced by 0.7 mmol l(-1) isopropyl-beta-D- thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) at 20 degrees C for 20 h, resulting 49.3 mg active enzyme per liter culture. The characteristic of this recombinant nattokinase is comparable to the native nattokinase from B. subtilis YF38. Secretory expression of nattokinase in E. coli would facilitate the development of this enzyme into a therapeutic product for the control and prevention of thrombosis diseases.

Roles of s3 site residues of nattokinase on its activity and substrate specificity.

Nattokinase (Subtilisin NAT, NK) is a bacterial serine protease with high fibrinolytic activity. To probe their roles on protease activity and substrate specificity, three residues of S3 site (Gly(100), Ser(101) and Leu(126)) were mutated by site-directed mutagenesis. Kinetics parameters of 20 mutants were measured using tetrapeptides as substrates, and their fibrinolytic activities were determined by fibrin plate method. Results of mutation analysis showed that Gly(100) and Ser(101) had reverse steric and electrostatic effects. Residues with bulky or positively charged side chains at position 100 decreased the substrate binding and catalytic activity drastically, while residues with the same characters at position 101 could obviously enhance protease and fibrinolytic activity of NK. Mutation of Leu(126) might impair the structure of the active cleft and drastically decreased the activity of NK. Kinetics studies of the mutants showed that S3 residues were crucial to keep protease activity while they moderately affected substrate specificity of NK. The present study provided some original insight into the P3-S3 interaction in NK and other subtilisins, as well as showed successful protein engineering cases to improve NK as a potential therapeutic agent.

Secretory expression of a heterologous nattokinase in Lactococcus lactis.

Nattokinase has been reported as an oral health product for the prevention of atherosclerosis. We developed a novel strategy to express a nattokinase from Bacillus subtilis in a live delivery vehicle, Lactococcus lactis. Promoter P( nisZ) and signal peptide SP(Usp) were used for inducible and secretory expression of nattokinase in L. lactis. Western blotting analysis demonstrated that nattokinase was successfully expressed, and about 94% of the enzyme was secreted to the culture. The recombinant nattokinase showed potent fibrinolytic activity, equivalent to 41.7 urokinase units per milliliter culture. Expression and delivery of such a fibrinolytic enzyme in the food-grade vehicle L. lactis would facilitate the widespread application of nattokinase in the control and prevention of thrombosis diseases.

[Expression of human insulin in lactic acid bacteria and its oral administration in non-obese diabetic mice].

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is an auto-immune disease while oral administrating its autoantigens could be a treatment of T1DM. To express human insulin gene (ins) in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) for oral vaccine, ins gene was replaced by LAB bias codon and an 8-amino-acid-residue linker peptide forming a beta-turn was designed to link insulin chain A and B. After synthesized by primer annealing method, the whole ins gene was fused with signal peptide sequence SP(Usp45), subcloned into a LAB secretory expressive vector pSW501 and then introduced to Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis) MG1363 and Lactobacillus casei (Lb. casei ) ATCC27092 respectively. Western blot showed that the expression product (SP(Usp45)-INS protein) targeted mainly at the cell wall while little was found in cytoplasm or supernatant. The highest expression level emerged in exponential phase when the optical density at 600nm of the culture was 0.4. The culture of the recombinant strain Lb. casei/pSW501 was administered to non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice orally. ELISA and Western blot results showed that the recombinant strain could induce SP(Usp45)-INS-specific antibodies and raise IL-4 level (38.583 +/- 2.083 pg/mL, P < 0.05) in the mice' s sera. Expression of insulin in the food-grade vehicle LAB could induce oral immune tolerance in NOD mice and protect it from pancreas injury, suggesting it might be a new way to the treatment of T1DM.

Genetics of subpeptin JM4-A and subpeptin JM4-B production by Bacillus subtilis JM4.

Subpeptin JM4-A and subpeptin JM4-B are two novel antimicrobial peptides produced by Bacillus subtilis JM4. To identify putative genes involved in their production, degenerate PCR primers targeted to conserved motifs of nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) were used. A resulting 1.2 kb PCR product had high sequence similarity to genes of NRPSs, and then a 2.8 kb DNA fragment flanking it was cloned subsequently. Gene disruption of the resulting 4 kb DNA fragment produced subpeptin-deficient mutant, suggesting that subpeptin JM4-A and subpeptin JM4-B were biosynthesized by NRPSs. Based on this result, a 48 kb gene cluster was cloned, which consisted of nine coding sequences (CDSs) involved in antimicrobial peptide biosynthesis, regulation, and resistance. Disruption of two relatively large CDSs subA and subC led to subpeptin-deficient mutants, which supported the involvement of the cloned gene cluster in subpeptin biosynthesis.

Purification and characterization of two novel antimicrobial peptides Subpeptin JM4-A and Subpeptin JM4-B produced by Bacillus subtilis JM4.

An antimicrobial peptides-producing strain was isolated from soil and identified as Bacillus subtilis JM4 according to biochemical tests and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The corresponding antimicrobial peptides were purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate precipitation, sequential SP-Sepharose Fast Flow, Sephadex G-25 and C18 reverse-phase chromatography, and in the final purification step, two active fractions were harvested, designated as Subpeptin JM4-A and Subpeptin JM4-B. The molecular weights, determined by mass spectrometry, were 1422.71 Da for Subpeptin JM4-A and 1422.65 Da for Subpeptin JM4-B, respectively. Amino acid sequencing showed that they differed from each other only at the seventh amino acid except for three unidentified residues, and the two peptides had no significant sequence homology to the known peptides in the database, indicating that they are two novel antimicrobial peptides. In addition, characteristic measurements indicated that both peptides had a relatively broad inhibitory spectrum and remained active over a wide pH and temperature range.

Expression of a human lactoferrin N-lobe in Nicotiana benthmiana with potato virus X-based agroinfection.

A DNA fragment encoding the N-terminal half (N-lobe) of the human lactoferrin (hLfN) gene has now been cloned into recombinant Potexvirus potato virus X (PVX) vector and expressed in Nicotiana benthmiana using agroinfection. Western blot analysis showed the recombinant protein with an apparent molecular mass on electrophoresis of ca. 40 kDa, corresponding to the predicted size of the hLfN. The yield of hLfN reached a maximum (up to 0.6% of total soluble proteins) when recombinant PVX systemically infected an entire plant. Protein extracts from infected plants had antibacterial activity.

Bovicin HJ50, a novel lantibiotic produced by Streptococcus bovis HJ50.

A bacteriocin-producing strain was isolated from raw milk and named Streptococcus bovis HJ50. Like most bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria, bovicin HJ50 showed a narrow range of inhibiting activity. It was sensitive to trypsin, subtilisin and proteinase K. Bovicin HJ50 was extracted by n-propanol and purified by SP Sepharose Fast Flow, followed by Phenyl Superose and Sephadex G-50. Treatment of Micrococcus flavus NCIB8166 with bovicin HJ50 revealed potassium efflux from inside the cell in a concentration-dependent manner. The molecular mass of bovicin HJ50 was determined to be 3428.3 Da. MS analysis of DTT-treated bovicin HJ50 suggested that bovicin HJ50 contains a disulfide bridge. The structural gene of bovicin HJ50 was cloned by nested PCR based on its N-terminal amino acid sequence. Sequence analysis showed that it encodes a 58 aa prepeptide consisting of an N-terminal leader sequence of 25 aa and a C-terminal propeptide domain of 33 aa. Bovicin HJ50 shows similarity to type AII lantibiotics. Chemical modification using an ethanethiol-containing reaction mixture showed that two Thr residues are modified.

[Site-directed mutagenesis of NisinZ and properties of NisinZ mutants].

According to the knowledge gained from engineering of nisinZ, using plasmid pHJ201 DNA as template, NisinZ was mutated by site-directed mutagenesis, NisinZ mutant T8S contains Serine at position 8 instead of Threonine, NisinZ mutant N27K/H31K contains Lysine at position 27 and 31, respectively, instead of Asparagine and Histidine and NisinZ mutant T2S/ H31K contains dehydrobutyrine and Lysine at position 2 and 31 instead of dehydroalanine and Histidine. They are cloned into pMG36e and expressed in L. Lactis NZ9800, the expression products of these mutants purified by Sephadex CM-25 and Sephadex G-25 chromatography, some properties of NisinZ mutants (T8S, T2S/H31K and N27K/H31K) were studied. The results showed that the spectrum of antimicrobial activity and solubility of these mutants had not been changed, their antimicrobial activities were found to be slightly lower than that of the wild-type NisinZ. but mutants T8S and T2S/H31K showed higher stability, which were significantly more stable than wild-type NisinZ at 55 approximately 100 degrees C and pH7 approximately 9.