Proteomics and the stressful life of lactobacilli

Abstract

Lactobacilli occupy specific ecological niches, where they represent a major component of foods, human and animal microbial communities. Employing these bacteria in industrial fermentations or for human health benefits exposes them to certain life-threatening conditions where their ability to adapt plays a key role in their survival and continued microbial activity. Since the postgenomic era began, proteomics has become the first choice among research approaches available for environmental adaptation and stress response investigators. The latest developments in the applications of proteomics to understand physiological changes in Lactobacillus species under harsh conditions are remarkable.

Probiotic yogurt production under high pressure and the possible use of pressure as an on/off switch to stop/start fermentation

“…Several authors previously reported that microbial cultures subjected to HHP shocks (successive rounds of increasing pressure) acquire resistance to subsequent HHP treatments due to the development of adaptation mechanisms [23][24][25][26][27][28]. Adaptation is usually associated with the induction of a large number of genes, the synthesis of stress response proteins and the development of cross-resistance to a variety of stresses [29][30][31][32]. The regulation of these responses is complex, interactive and, sometimes, closely related to metabolic pathways [31,33].…”

“…Adaptation is usually associated with the induction of a large number of genes, the synthesis of stress response proteins and the development of cross-resistance to a variety of stresses [29][30][31][32]. The regulation of these responses is complex, interactive and, sometimes, closely related to metabolic pathways [31,33]. After the development of these pressure response mechanisms, the HHP-adapted microbial strains are able to grow at HHP conditions, as well as at atmospheric pressure [8,34].…”

Bacterial Flow Cytometry and Imaging as Potential Process Monitoring Tools for Industrial Biotechnology

“…Lactic acid bacteria are known to be resistant to pH stresses [15]. The behavior observed in pH-B, where the cells adapt to the new environment and maintain good viability until the end of fermentation, is therefore maybe not very surprising.…”

Mg2+improves the thermotolerance of probioticLactobacillus rhamnosusGG,Lactobacillus caseiZhang andLactobacillus plantarumP-8

“…Indeed, stress tolerance determines the ability of bacteria to adapt to different ecosystems and thereby maintain a high level of viability during processing, storage and digestion (Hussain et al . ).…”