Phages of dairy Leuconostoc mesenteroides: genomics and factors influencing their adsorption.
Phages infecting Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains can be overlooked during milk fermentation because they do not slowdown the acidification process. However, they can negatively impact the flavor profile of the final product. Yet, the information about these phages is still scarce. In this work, we investigated diverse factors influencing the adsorption of seven virulent Ln. mesenteroides phages, isolated from blue cheese manufacture in Argentina, to their host cells. The addition of calcium ions was generally necessary to observe complete cell lysis and plaque formation for four of the seven phages, but adsorption was very high even in the absence of this cation for all phages. The temperature barely influenced the adsorption process as it was high within the temperature range tested (0 to 50 °C). Moreover, the kinetics of adsorption were similar on viable and non-viable cells, revealing that phage adsorption does not depend on physiological state of the bacterial cells. The adsorption rates were also high at pH values from 4 to 9 for all Ln. mesenteroides phages. We also analyzed the complete genome sequences of two of these phages. Complete nucleotide analysis of phages Ln-8 and Ln-9 showed dsDNA genomes with sizes of 28.5 and 28.9 kb, and the presence of 45 and 48 open reading frames (ORFs), respectively. These genomes were highly similar to those of previously characterized Φ1-A4 (USA, sauerkraut, fermentation) and ΦLN25 (England, whey), both virulent Ln. mesenteroides phages. A detailed understanding of these phages will lead to better control strategies.
Instituto de Lactología Industrial, Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santiago del Estero 2829, 3000 Santa Fe, Argentina. Electronic address: spujato@unl.edu.ar.
Silvina A
SA
Pujato
Instituto de Lactología Industrial, Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santiago del Estero 2829, 3000 Santa Fe, Argentina.
Diego J
DJ
Mercanti
Instituto de Lactología Industrial, Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santiago del Estero 2829, 3000 Santa Fe, Argentina.
Daniela M
DM
Guglielmotti
Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale and Félix d'Hérelle Reference Center for Bacterial Viruses, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1V0A6.
Geneviève M
GM
Rousseau
Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale and Félix d'Hérelle Reference Center for Bacterial Viruses, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1V0A6; Département de Biochimie, Microbiologie et de Bio-informatique, Faculté des Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1V0A6.
Sylvain
S
Moineau
Instituto de Lactología Industrial, Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santiago del Estero 2829, 3000 Santa Fe, Argentina.
Jorge A
JA
Reinheimer
Instituto de Lactología Industrial, Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santiago del Estero 2829, 3000 Santa Fe, Argentina.
Andrea del L
Adel L
Quiberoni
D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D005516:Food Microbiology; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007934:Leuconostoc / Q000254:growth & development / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013696:Temperature
D002118:Calcium
Adsorption; Leuconostoc; Phage infection; Sequence analysis