title: Detection of arc genes related with the ethyl carbamate precursors in wine lactic acid bacteria.
abstract: Trace amounts of the carcinogen ethyl carbamate can appear in wine by the reaction of ethanol with compounds such as citrulline and carbamyl phosphate, which are produced from arginine degradation by some wine lactic acid bacteria (LAB). In this work, the presence of arc genes for the arginine-deiminase pathway was studied in several strains of different species of LAB. Their ability to degrade arginine was also studied. To detect the presence of arc genes, degenerate primers were designed from the alignment of protein sequences in already sequenced LAB. The usefulness of these degenerate primers has been proven by sequencing some of the amplified PCR fragments and searching for homologies with published sequences of the same species and related ones. Correlation was found between the presence of genes and the ability to degrade arginine. Degrading strains included all heterofermentative lactobacilli, Oenococcus oeni , Pediococcus pentosaceus , and some strains of Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus plantarum .
authors.affiliation: Departament de Bioquimica i Biotecnologia, Facultat d'Enologia, Campus Sescelades, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Araque
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Carreté
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bordons
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reguant
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D007777:Lactobacillaceae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014520:Urethane / Q000378:metabolism*; D014920:Wine / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D019344:Lactic Acid; D014520:Urethane