Heterologous expression of enterocin AS-48 in several strains of lactic acid bacteria.
OBJECTIVE
Enterococcus faecalis produces a cationic and circular enterocin, AS-48, of 7149 Da, the genetic determinants of which are located within the pMB2 plasmid. We have compared enterocin AS-48 production by different enterococci species with that of other 'safe' lactic acid bacteris (LAB) (GRAS status) and looked into the subsequent application of this enterocin in food production.


RESULTS
In an effort to exploit this system for the heterologous expression of enterocin AS-48, a number of vectors containing the as-48 cluster were constructed and used to transform several LAB strains (genera Enterococcus, Lactococcus and Lactobacillus)


CONCLUSIONS
Heterologous production of enterocin AS-48 failed when bacteria other than those belonging to the genus Enterococcus were used as hosts, although expression of a partial level of resistance against AS-48 were always detected, ruling out the possibility of a lack of recognition of the enterococcal promoters.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results reveal the special capacity of species from the genus Enterococcus to produce AS-48, an enterocin that requires a post-transcriptional modification to generate a circular peptide with a wide range of inhibitory activity against pathogenic and spoilage bacteria. Preliminary experiments in foodstuffs using nonvirulent enterococci with interesting functional properties reveal the possibility of a biotechnological application of these transformants.
Fernández
M
M
Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
Martínez-Bueno
M
M
Martín
M C
MC
Valdivia
E
E
Maqueda
M
M
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003086:Bacteriocin Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism*; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds / Q000378:metabolism; D003470:Culture Media; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000187:drug effects*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005519:Food Preservation; D015870:Gene Expression; D007777:Lactobacillaceae / Q000378:metabolism*; D010957:Plasmids
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds; D003470:Culture Media; C012306:enterocin