title: Cloning and analysis of the pepV dipeptidase gene of Lactococcus lactis MG1363.
abstract: The gene pepV, encoding a dipeptidase from Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris MG1363, was identified in a genomic library in pUC19 in a peptidase-deficient Escherichia coli strain and subsequently sequenced. PepV of L. lactis is enzymatically active in E. coli and hydrolyzes a broad range of dipeptides but no tri-, tetra-, or larger oligopeptides. Northern (RNA) and primer extension analyses indicate that pepV is a monocistronic transcriptional unit starting 24 bases upstream of the AUG translational start codon. The dipeptidase of L. lactis was shown to be similar to the dipeptidase encoded by pepV of L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis, with 46% identity in the deduced amino acid sequences. A PepV-negative mutant of L. lactis was constructed by single-crossover recombination. Growth of the mutant strain in milk was significantly slower than that of the wild type, but the strains ultimately reached the same final cell densities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Haren, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hellendoorn
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Franke-Fayard
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mierau
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Venema
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kok
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004150:Dipeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D013294:Lactococcus lactis / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D004150:Dipeptidases; C038937:dipeptidase