Aims:  To study the ability of the probiotic culture Lactobacillus acidophilus La‐5 to produce conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is a potent anti‐carcinogenic agent. Methods and Results:  The conversion of linoleic acid to CLA was studied both by fermentation in a synthetic medium and by incubation of washed cells. Accumulation of CLA was monitored by gas chromatography analysis of the biomass and supernatants. While the fermentation conditions applied may not be optimal to observe CLA production in growing La‐5 cells, the total CLA surpassed 50% of the original content in the washed cells after 48 h under both aerobic and micro‐aerobic conditions. The restriction of oxygen did not increase the yield, but favoured the formation of trans, trans isomers. Conclusions:  The capability of L. acidophilus La‐5 to produce CLA is not dependant on the presence of milk fat or anaerobic conditions. Regulation of CLA production in this strain needs to be further investigated to exploit the CLA potential in fermented foods. Significance and Impact of the study:  Knowledge gained through the conditions on the accumulation of CLA would provide further insight into the fermentation of probiotic dairy products. The capacity of the nongrowing cells to produce CLA is also of great relevance for the emerging nonfermented probiotic foods.

Trypsin is a highly valuable protease that has many industrial and biomedical applications. The growing demand for non-animal sources of the enzyme and for trypsins with special properties has driven the interest to clone and express this protease in microorganisms. Reports about expression of recombinant trypsins show wide differences in the degree of success and are contained mainly in patent applications, which disregard the difficulties associated with the developments. Although the yeast Pichia pastoris appears to be the microbial host with the greatest potential for the production of trypsin, it has shown problems when expressing cold-adapted fish trypsins (CAFTs). CAFTs are considered of immense value for their comparative advantage over other trypsins in a number of food-processing and biotechnological applications. Thus, to investigate potential obstacles related to the production of CAFTs in P. pastoris, the cunner fish trypsin (CFT) was cloned in different Pichia expression vectors. The vectors were constructed targeting both internal and secreted expression and keeping the CFT native signal peptide. Western-blotting analysis confirmed the expression with evident differences for each construct, observing a major effect of the leader peptide sequence on the expression patterns. Immobilized nickel affinity chromatography yielded a partially purified recombinant CFT, which exhibited trypsin-specific activity after activation with bovine enterokinase.

Given the multiple health benefits of CLA, the capability of some bacteria to convert LA into CLA is of great relevance. Nevertheless, the yields of CLA remain low, and the regulation of the process is far from being understood. A deeper knowledge of this capacity by the genetic studies is revealing the identity of the LI and will eventually contribute to its control.

While the remarkable health effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) catalyzed from alpha-linoleic acid by the enzyme linoleate isomerase (LI, EC 5.2.1.5) are well recognized, how widely this biochemical activity is present and the mechanisms of its regulation in lactic acid bacteria are unknown. Although certain strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus can enrich CLA in fermented dairy products, it is unknown if other strains share this capacity. Due to its immense economic importance, this work aimed to investigate genetic aspects of CLA production in L. acidophilus for the first time. The genomic DNA from industrial and type strains of L. acidophilus were subjected to PCR and immunoblot analyses using the putative LI gene of L. reuteri ATCC 55739 as probe. The CLA production ability was estimated by gas chromatography of the biomass extracts. The presumptive LI gene from L. acidophilus ATCC 832 was isolated and sequenced. The resulting sequence shared 71% identity with that of L. reuteri and at least 99% with reported sequences from other L. acidophilus strains. All the strains accumulated detectable levels of CLA and tested positive by PCR and immunoblotting. However, no apparent correlation was observed between the yields and the hybridization patterns. The results suggest that LI activity might be common among L. acidophilus and related species and provide a new tool for screening potential CLA producers.

Fish metabolism needs special enzymes that have maximum activity at very different conditions than their mammalian counterparts. Due to the differences in activity, these enzymes, especially cold-adapted proteases, could be used advantageously for the production of some foods. In addition to the enzymes, this review describes some other unique fish polypeptides such as antifreeze proteins, fluorescent proteins, antitumor peptides, antibiotics, and hormones, that have already been cloned and used in food processing, genetic engineering, medicine, and aquaculture. Recombinant DNA technology, which allows these biological molecules to be cloned and overexpressed in microorganisms is also described, highlighting innovative applications. The expected impact of cloning fish proteins in different fields of technology is discussed.