Effects of Penicillin G on Morphology and Certain Physiological Parameters of Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356

Abstract

Evidence shows that probiotic bacteria can undergo substantial structural and morphological changes in response to environmental stresses, including antibiotics. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of penicillin G (0.015, 0.03, and 0.06 mg/l) on the morphology and adhesion of Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356, including the colony morphotype, biofilm production, hydrophobicity, H 2 O 2 formation, S-layer structure, and slpA gene expression. Whereas only smooth colonies grew in the presence of penicillin, rough and smooth colony types were observed in the control group. L. acidophilus ATCC 4356 was found to be hydrophobic under normal conditions, yet its hydrophobicity decreased in the presence of the antibiotic. No biofilm was produced by the bacterium, despite testing a variety of different culture conditions; however, treatment with penicillin G (0.015-0.06 mg/l) significantly decreased its production of H 2 O 2 formation and altered the S-layer protein structure and slpA gene expression. The S-protein expression decreased with 0.015 mg/l penicillin G, yet increased with 0.03 and 0.06 mg/l penicillin G. In addition, the slpA gene expression decreased in the presence of 0.015 mg/l of the antibiotic. In conclusion, penicillin G was able to alter the S-layer protein production, slpA gene expression, and certain physicochemical properties of Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356.

Effect of Environmental Stresses on S-Layer Production in Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356

“…1, 2). Evidence showed that S-layer production was increased under stress conditions (Khaleghi et al, 2010(Khaleghi et al, , 2011 and medium components (ScharZammaretti et al, 2005). It was found that S-layer proteins were present during all growth phases of Lactobacillus acidophilus M92 under heat stress (Frece et al, 2005).…”

“…Yet, all the other S-layer proteins characterized are weakly acidic (Avall-Jaaskelainen & Palva, 2005). Evidence shows that the S-layer protein is important for Lactobacillus acidophilus (Frece et al, 2005;Khaleghi et al, 2010Khaleghi et al, , 2011Kim et al, 2001;Toba et al, 1995).…”

“…However, no general function has been identified for S-layer proteins, but several lactobacillar S-layers have been identified as putative adhesions with affinity for intestinal epithelial cells, extracellular matrices and/ or to lipoteichoic acid (LTA) of other bacterial species (Avall-Jaaskelainen & Palva, 2005;Buck et al, 2005;Frece et al, 2005;Garrote et al, 2004;Hynonen et al, 2002;Kos et al, 2003;Velez et al, 2007;Vidgren et al, 1992). Of the various roles proposed for the bacterial S-layer, it is a protective sheath against hostile environment (Avall-Jaaskelainen & Palva, 2005;Frece et al, 2005;Khaleghi et al, 2010Khaleghi et al, , 2011Kos et al, 2003;Schar-Zammaretti et al, 2005). Adhesive S-layers have a role in inhibition of adhesiveness of pathogenic bacteria and thus can contribute to probiotic effects of lactobacilli.…”

Rough and smooth morphotypes isolated from Lactobacillus farciminis CNCM I-3699 are two closely-related variants

“…farciminis CNCM I-3699 presents heterogeneous colonies on MRS agar and is described here as a pleomorphic strain constituted of welldefined rough and smooth variants (along with intermediate forms) whose presence depends on environmental atmospheric conditions. Although this phenomenon was initially described as being associated to pathogen adaptation and virulence, spontaneous R and S morphotypes were observed in some lactobacilli having technological or beneficial interests such as L. acidophilus RL8K (Klaenhammer and Kleeman, 1981), L. acidophilus ATCC 4356 (Khaleghi et al, 2011), Lactobacillus amylovorus NCFB 2745 (Whitley and Marshall, 1999), L. brevis ATCC 14869 (Jakava-Viljanen et al, 2002), Lactobacillus johnsonii FI9785 (Horn et al, 2013), L. rhamnosus ATCC 9595 (Péant et al, 2005), Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 (Bron et al, 2004), or Lactobacillus sakei (Chiaramonte et al, 2010). Furthermore, similar to the present work, R and S morphotypes of Lactobacillus brevis ATCC 14869 were obtained in the presence or absence of O 2 during cultivation (JakavaViljanen et al, 2002).…”

“…However other cultivation parameters have been shown to allow morphological changes in Lactobacillus strains. In other cases, R and S morphotypes of Lactobacillus strains were isolated by the use of varying energy source carbohydrates (Whitley and Marshall, 1999), or in the presence of penicillin (Khaleghi et al, 2011) or bile salts in broth culture (Bron et al, 2004), or more recently by deleting a small heat shock gene of L. plantarum WCFS1 (Capozzi et al, 2011).…”