Conjugal transfer of plasmid-borne bacteriocin production in Enterococcus faecalis 226 NWC.
Enterococcus faecalis 226 NWC, isolated from natural whey cultures utilized as starter in water-buffalo Mozzarella cheese manufacture, produces a bacteriocin, designated Enterocin 226 NWC, which is inhibitory to Listeria monocytogenes. Plasmid analysis of E. faecalis 226 NWC showed a single 5.2-kb plasmid, pEF226. In conjugation experiments, pEF226 was transferred into a plasmid-free strain of E. faecalis JH2-2. The transfer required direct cell-to-cell contact and was not inhibited by DNase. The identity of conjugation was confirmed by digestion with SmaI restriction endonuclease and subsequent pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of the genomic DNA of E. faecalis 226, E. faecalis JH2-2 and of the isolates after the mating. The data indicate that the ability of E. faecalis 226 NWC to produce the bacteriocin is linked to the 5.2-kb conjugative plasmid pEF226.
Salzano
G
G
Istituto di Microbiologia Agraria e Stazione di Microbiologia Industriale, Universitè degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Portici, Italy.
Villani
F
F
Pepe
O
O
Sorrentino
E
E
Moschetti
G
G
Coppola
S
S
D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010957:Plasmids
D001430:Bacteriocins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial