Effect of respiration and manganese on oxidative stress resistance of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1.

Lactobacillus plantarum is a facultatively anaerobic bacterium that can perform respiration under aerobic conditions in the presence of haem, with vitamin K2 acting as a source of menaquinone. We investigated growth performance and oxidative stress resistance of Lb. plantarum WCFS1 cultures grown in de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) medium without and with added manganese under fermentative, aerobic, aerobic with haem, and respiratory conditions. Previous studies showed that Lb. plantarum WCFS1 lacks a superoxide dismutase and requires high levels of manganese for optimum fermentative and aerobic growth. In this study, respiratory growth with added manganese resulted in significantly higher cell densities compared to the other growth conditions, while without manganese added, similar but lower cell densities were reached. Notably, cells derived from the respiratory cultures showed the highest hydrogen peroxide resistance in all conditions tested, although similar activity levels of haem-dependent catalase were detected in cells grown under aerobic conditions with haem. These results indicate that oxidative stress resistance of Lb. plantarum is affected by respiratory growth, growth phase, haem and manganese. As levels of haem and manganese can differ considerably in the raw materials used in fermentation processes, including those of milk, meat and vegetables, the insight gained here may provide tools to increase the performance and robustness of starter bacteria.

Lactobacillus harbinensis sp. nov., consisted of strains isolated from traditional fermented vegetables 'Suan cai' in Harbin, Northeastern China and Lactobacillus perolens DSM 12745.

Taxonomical analysis of two genetically distinguished Lactobacillus strains isolated from traditional Chinese fermented vegetables 'Suan cai' was performed. They formed L-lactate from glucose, were facultatively heterofermentative, and had a DNA G+C content of 53-54mol%. They fermented D- and L-arabinose. They produced lactate, ethanol and acetate from gluconate at a molar ratio of 1.1:0.4:0.7. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA revealed that the two strains were closely related to L. perolens. DNA-DNA hybridization analysis revealed that the two strains were different from L. perolens type strain DSM 12744 and formed a separate cluster with L. perolens DSM 12745. G + C molar content of DNA of the former is 51%, whereas those of the latter strains were in the range of 53-54%. Based on the results, we propose that the new species be named L. harbinensis sp. nov. and that L. perolens DSM 12745 be reclassified as L. harbinensis DSM 12745. The type strain of L. harbinensis DSM 16991T (= AHU 1762T = SBT 10908T).

Distinctive proteolytic activity of cell envelope proteinase of Lactobacillus helveticus isolated from airag, a traditional Mongolian fermented mare's milk.

Airag is a traditional fermented milk of Mongolia that is usually made from raw mare's milk. Lactobacillus helveticus is one of the lactic acid bacteria most frequently isolated from airag. In this study, we investigated the genetic and physiological characteristics of L. helveticus strains isolated from airag and clarified their significance in airag by comparing them with strains from different sources. Six strains of L. helveticus were isolated from five home-made airag samples collected from different regions of Mongolia. The optimal temperature for acidification in skim milk was 30 to 35°C for all the Mongolian strains, which is lower than those for the reference strains (JCM 1554 and JCM 1120(T)) isolated from European cheeses. All of the strains had a prtH1-like gene encoding a variant type of cell envelope proteinase (CEP). The CEP amino acid sequence in Snow Brand Typeculture (SBT) 11087 isolated from airag shared 71% identity with PrtH of L. helveticus CNRZ32 (AAD50643.1) but 98% identity with PrtH of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens ZW3 (AEG40278.1) isolated from a traditional fermented milk in Tibet. The proteolytic activities of the CEP from SBT11087 on artificial substrate (N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide) and pure casein were measured using an intact-cell degradation assay. The activity of the CEP from SBT11087 was observed to be weak and exhibited a lower optimal temperature (40°C) than those from the reference strains (45-50°C). The specificity of the SBT11087 CEP for αS1-casein was typical of the CEPs previously reported in L. helveticus, as determined through the degradation profiles obtained through gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry analyses. In contrast, the degradation profile of ß-casein revealed that the CEP of SBT11087 primarily hydrolyzes its C-terminal domain and hydrolyzed nine of the 16 cleavage sites shared among the CEPs of other L. helveticus strains. Thus, the CEP of SBT11087 is distinct from those from previously reported L. helveticus strains in terms of its optimal temperature and its degradation of ß-casein. Therefore, the Mongolian L. helveticus strains differ from other strains of the species in different collections and are specifically suited for the natural lactic acid bacterial population in airag.