ExploringLactobacillus plantarumGenome Diversity by Using Microarrays

Abstract

Lactobacillus plantarum is a versatile and flexible species that is encountered in a variety of niches and can utilize a broad range of fermentable carbon sources. To assess if this versatility is linked to a variable gene pool, microarrays containing a subset of small genomic fragments of L. plantarum strain WCFS1 were used to perform stringent genotyping of 20 strains of L. plantarum from various sources. The gene categories with the most genes conserved in all strains were those involved in biosynthesis or degradation of structural compounds like proteins, lipids, and DNA. Conversely, genes involved in sugar transport and catabolism were highly variable between strains. Moreover, besides the obvious regions of variance, like prophages, other regions varied between the strains, including regions encoding plantaricin biosynthesis, nonribosomal peptide biosynthesis, and exopolysaccharide biosynthesis. In many cases, these variable regions colocalized with regions of unusual base composition. Two large regions of flexibility were identified between 2.70 and 2.85 and 3.10 and 3.29 Mb of the WCFS1 chromosome, the latter being close to the origin of replication. The majority of genes encoded in these variable regions are involved in sugar metabolism. This functional overrepresentation and the unusual base composition of these regions led to the hypothesis that they represented lifestyle adaptation regions in L. plantarum. The present study consolidates this hypothesis by showing that there is a high degree of gene content variation among L. plantarum strains in genes located in these regions of the WCFS1 genome. Interestingly, based on our genotyping data L. plantarum strains clustered into two clearly distinguishable groups, which coincided with an earlier proposed subdivision of this species based on conventional methods.

Cysteine S -glycosylation, a new post-translational modification found in glycopeptide bacteriocins

“…While the role of the S-linked HexNAc is enigmatic, it is interesting to consider the evolutionary and ecological consequences of 'baiting' bacteriocins with monosaccharides that are components of cell wall polymers and/or substrates for specific phosphotransferase system (PTS) transporters. The latter are numerous in L. plantarum [29], and transmembrane subunits of mannose PTS transporters are known receptors for class II bacteriocins [30]. Further, the S-glycosidic linkage could be relatively resistant to cleavage by extracellular and cell envelope glycosidases and transglycosylases, a strategy akin to incorporating D-amino acids into antimicrobial peptides to minimise proteolysis [31].…”

Expression of different types of [FeFe]-hydrogenase genes in bacteria isolated from a population of a bio-hydrogen pilot-scale plant

“…Lactobacillus plantarum has been found in a wide range of natural and artificial fermentation processes, in particular in plant-derived matrices [58]. It is a very versatile microorganism that produces large amount of lactic acid and causes acidification of the fermentation medium [59], thus favouring the hydrogen producing microorganisms versus the methanogenic ones.…”

Making sense of quorum sensing in lactobacilli: a special focus on Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1

“…These C11 plantaricins showed activity against closely related species (Anderssen et al, 1998), which can be found in the same ecological niches as L. plantarum strains WCFS1 and C11 . However, some strain-specific differences in plantaricin activity and target specificity might be expected for various L. plantarum strains, considering the differences in pln gene composition and sequence variations identified in the pln operons of strains WCFS1, C11 and NC8 (Maldonado et al, 2004;Molenaar et al, 2005).…”