Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is an important food poisoning bacterium. In food preservation, acidification is a well-known method. Permeant weak organic acids, like lactic and acetic acids, are known to be more effective against bacteria than inorganic strong acids (e.g., HCl). Growth experiments and metabolic and transcriptional analyses were used to determine the responses of a food pathogenic S. aureus strain exposed to lactic acid, acetic acid, and HCl at pH 4.5. Lactic and acetic acid stress induced a slower transcriptional response and large variations in growth patterns compared with the responses induced by HCl. In cultures acidified with lactic acid, the pH of the medium gradually increased to 7.5 during growth, while no such increase was observed for bacteria exposed to acetic acid or HCl. Staphylococcus aureus increased the pH in the medium mainly through accumulation of ammonium and the removal of acid groups, resulting in increased production of diacetyl (2,3-butanedione) and pyrazines. The results showed flexible and versatile responses of S. aureus to different types of acid stress. As measured by growth inhibition, permeant organic acid stress introduced severe stress compared with the stress caused by HCl. Cells exposed to lactic acid showed specific mechanisms of action in addition to sharing many of the mechanisms induced by HCl stress. Data is also available from http://bugs.sgul.ac.uk/E-BUGS-87
Project description:Lactobacillus helveticus is a rod-shaped lactic acid bacterium that is widely used in the manufacture of fermented dairy foods and for production of bioactive peptides from milk proteins. Although L. helveticus is commonly associated with milk environments, phylogenetic studies show it is closely related to an intestinal species, Lactobacillus acidophilus, which has been shown to impart probiotic health benefits to humans. This relationship has fueled a prevailing hypothesis that L. helveticus is a highly specialized derivative of L. acidophilus which has adapted to acidified whey. However, L. helveticus has also been sporadically recovered from non-dairy environments, which argues the species may not be as highly specialized as is widely believed. This study employed genome sequence analysis and comparative genome hybridizations to investigate genomic diversity among L. helveticus strains collected from cheese, whey, and whiskey malt, as well as commercial cultures used in manufacture of cheese or bioactive dairy foods. Results revealed considerable variability in gene content between some L. helveticus strains, and indicated the species should not be viewed as a strict dairy-niche specialist. In addition, comparative genomic analyses provided new insight on several industrially and ecologically important attributes of L. helveticus that may facilitate commercial strain selection.
Project description:Lactobacillus helveticus is a rod-shaped lactic acid bacterium that is widely used in the manufacture of fermented dairy foods and for production of bioactive peptides from milk proteins. Although L. helveticus is commonly associated with milk environments, phylogenetic studies show it is closely related to an intestinal species, Lactobacillus acidophilus, which has been shown to impart probiotic health benefits to humans. This relationship has fueled a prevailing hypothesis that L. helveticus is a highly specialized derivative of L. acidophilus which has adapted to acidified whey. However, L. helveticus has also been sporadically recovered from non-dairy environments, which argues the species may not be as highly specialized as is widely believed. This study employed genome sequence analysis and comparative genome hybridizations to investigate genomic diversity among L. helveticus strains collected from cheese, whey, and whiskey malt, as well as commercial cultures used in manufacture of cheese or bioactive dairy foods. Results revealed considerable variability in gene content between some L. helveticus strains, and indicated the species should not be viewed as a strict dairy-niche specialist. In addition, comparative genomic analyses provided new insight on several industrially and ecologically important attributes of L. helveticus that may facilitate commercial strain selection. 42 samples were hybridized to the microarray chip, which contains probe sequences from L. helveticus CNRZ32. CNRZ32 was also hybridized and used as the reference sample. Data from the microarray was statistically analyzed using the R software. Samples were compared to the reference (CNRZ32) to investigate genome diversity amoung L. helveticus strains,
Project description:Background: Lactobacillus plantarum is found in a variety of fermented foods and as such, consumed for centuries. Some strains are natural inhabitants of the human gastro-intestinal tract and like other Lactobacillus species, L. plantarum has been extensively studied for its immunomodulatory properties and its putative health-promoting effects (probiotic). Being the first line of host defense intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) are key players in the recognition and initiation of responses to gut microorganisms. Results: Using high-density oligonucleotide microarrays we examined the gene expression profiles of differentiated Caco-2 cells exposed to various doses of L. plantarum. In addition, the effects were correlated to monolayer permeability studies and measurement of lactic acid production. A transcriptional dose-dependent IEC response to L. plantarum was found. Incubation of Caco-2 with a low bacterial dose induced a specific response, not due to cytotoxicity or production of lactic acid, including modulation of cell cycle and cell signaling functions. Exposure of Caco-2 cells to larger amounts of bacteria, accompanied by the production of lactic acid and glucose depletion, provoked increased permeability and supposed non-specific defense responses. Conclusions: These results suggest that IEC are able to sense and react to the presence of gut bacteria. This study provides the first description of global transcriptional response of human IEC to a commensal lactic acid bacterium, and it shows the importance of choosing physiological bacterial doses to prevent the observation of non-specific host reactions. Keywords: host-microbe interaction; dose response; transcriptional analysis
Project description:Background: Lactobacillus plantarum is found in a variety of fermented foods and as such, consumed for centuries. Some strains are natural inhabitants of the human gastro-intestinal tract and like other Lactobacillus species, L. plantarum has been extensively studied for its immunomodulatory properties and its putative health-promoting effects (probiotic). Being the first line of host defense intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) are key players in the recognition and initiation of responses to gut microorganisms. Results: Using high-density oligonucleotide microarrays we examined the gene expression profiles of differentiated Caco-2 cells exposed to various doses of L. plantarum. In addition, the effects were correlated to monolayer permeability studies and measurement of lactic acid production. A transcriptional dose-dependent IEC response to L. plantarum was found. Incubation of Caco-2 with a low bacterial dose induced a specific response, not due to cytotoxicity or production of lactic acid, including modulation of cell cycle and cell signaling functions. Exposure of Caco-2 cells to larger amounts of bacteria, accompanied by the production of lactic acid and glucose depletion, provoked increased permeability and supposed non-specific defense responses. Conclusions: These results suggest that IEC are able to sense and react to the presence of gut bacteria. This study provides the first description of global transcriptional response of human IEC to a commensal lactic acid bacterium, and it shows the importance of choosing physiological bacterial doses to prevent the observation of non-specific host reactions. Caco-2 cells were exposed for 10h to Lactobacillus. Fourteen samples are analyzed: 4 control Caco-2, 4 Caco-2 exposed to a low dose (10) of Lactobacillus, 4 Caco-2 exposed to a medium dose (100) of Lactobacillus, 2 Caco-2 exposed to a high dose (1000) of Lactobacillus. All 14 RNA samples are labeled with Cy5 and hybridized to a common reference (undifferentiated Caco-2, untreated) RNA labeled with Cy3
Project description:RNA-seq was used in combination with various analytical chemistry approaches to identify the chemical and genetic basis of pigment production of the bacterium Glutamicibacter arilaitensis when growing on cheese. This bacterium commonly found in cheese rinds where it co-occurs with Penicillium species and other molds. Pinkish-red pigments are produced by the bacterium in response to growth with Penicillium. Both chemical analyses and RNA-seq point to coproporphyrin III as the major metabolite leading to pigment formation.
Project description:The present study aims to explore chemostat-based transcriptome analysis of mixed cultures by investigating interactions between the yeast S. cerevisiae and the lactic acid bacterium L. bulgaricus . S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus are both frequently encountered in kefir, a fermented dairy product. In the context of this study, this binary culture serves as a model for the many traditional food and beverage fermentation processes in which yeasts and lactic acid bacteria occur together. The design of the cultivation conditions was based on the observation that L. bulgaricus, but not S. cerevisiae, can use lactose as a carbon source for growth and that S. cerevisiae, but not L. bulgaricus, can grow on galactose that is released upon hydrolysis of lactose by the bacterial β-galactosidase. Mixed populations of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria occur in many dairy, food and beverage fermentations, but knowledge about their interactions is incomplete. In the present study, interactions between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, two microorganisms that co-occur in kefir fermentations, were studied during anaerobic growth on lactose. By combining physiological and transcriptome analysis of the two strains in the co-cultures, five mechanisms of interaction were identified. 1. L. bulgaricus hydrolyses lactose, which cannot be metabolized by S. cerevisiae, to galactose and glucose. Subsequently, galactose, which cannot be metabolized by L. bulgaricus, is excreted and provides a carbon source for yeast. 2. In pure cultures, L. bulgaricus only grows at increased CO2 concentrations. In anaerobic mixed cultures, the yeast provides this CO2 via alcoholic fermentation. 3. Analysis of amino acid consumption from the defined medium indicated that S. cerevisiae supplied alanine to the bacteria. 4. A mild but significant low-iron response in the yeast transcriptome, identified by DNA microarray analysis, was consistent with the chelation of iron by the lactate produced by L. bulgaricus. 5. Transcriptome analysis of L. bulgaricus in mixed cultures showed an overrepresentation of transcripts involved in lipids metabolism suggesting either a competition of the two microorganisms for fatty acids, or a response to the ethanol produced by S. cerevisiae.