title: Preventing phage lysis of Lactococcus lactis in cheese production using a neutralizing heavy-chain antibody fragment from llama.
abstract: Bacteriophage infection is still a persistent problem in large dairy processes despite extensive studies over the last decades. Consequently, new methods are constantly sought to prevent phage infection. In this paper, we show that phage neutralizing heavy-chain antibody fragments, obtained from Camelidae and produced at a large scale in the generally regarded as safe microorganism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, can effectively be used to impede phage induced lysis during a cheese process. The growth inhibition of the cheese starter culture by 10(5) pfu/ml cheese-milk of the small isometric-headed 936-type phage p2 was prevented by the addition of only 0.1 microg/ml (7 nM) of the neutralizing antibody fragment. The use of such antibody fragments in cheese manufacturing are a realistic and interesting option because of the small amount of antibody fragments that are needed. Moreover the antibodies are produced in a food grade microorganism and can easily be isolated from the fermentation liquid in a pure and DNA free form.
authors.affiliation: Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen, The Netherlands. aat.ledeboer@unilever.com
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ledeboer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bezemer
authors.forename: J J W
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: de Hiaard
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Schaffers
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Verrips
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Vliet
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Düsterhöft
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zoon
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moineau
authors.forename: L G J
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Frenken
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015415:Biomarkers; D002161:Camelids, New World; D002611:Cheese / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000592:standards; D005285:Fermentation; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005525:Food-Processing Industry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000276:immunology*; D013294:Lactococcus lactis / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D008242:Lysogeny / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains