Many methods are available for permanent alteration or mutation, at will, of the genetic make-up of Lactococcus lactis. Strains with different properties can be selected from natural or industrial environments or can be isolated after application of a variety of classical mutation strategies to existing strains. In the last two decades we have seen the rapid development of sophisticated genetic engineering techniques for application to L. lactis. Recombinant DNA technology has advanced to such perfection that it is now, in principle, possible to introduce any mutation, small or large, or to insert genes from any origin into the genome of L. lactis. These possibilities open up a wide array of new applications of L. lactis, in food or feed production or for entirely new (medical) applications. In this review we describe in detail the potential of altering the genetic make up of L. lactis, by classical techniques and by recombinant DNA technology. We will examine the possibilities of distinguishing the strains made by the latter techniques, so-called genetically modified organisms, from "natural" mutants and will discuss methods for detection of genetically modified strains of L. lactis.
IntroductionGenetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms in which permanent DNA alterations have been introduced by recombinant DNA techniques. Over the last two decades, Lactococcus lactis has been made amenable to recombinant DNA technology. Tools to transform L. lactis, to introduce and express (foreign) DNA, to secrete (heterologous) proteins, and to mutate the chromosome by single and double crossover recombination strategies have all been developed. Constitutive or regulated promoters can be used to drive (foreign) gene expression. The culmination of genetic dissection of L. lactis was the determination in 2001 of the entire nucleotide sequence of the chromosome of L. lactis subsp. Lactis IL1403 [1a].