Relationship between the presence of the citrate permease plasmid and high electron-donor surface properties of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis.

Mai Huong Ly (1, 2) , Jean-François Cavin (1) , Rémy Cachon (1) , Thanh Mai Lê (2) , Jean-Marc Belin (1) , Yves Waché (1)

1 GPMA - Génie des Procédés Microbiologiques et Alimentaires
2 Department of Fermentation

Some strains of Lactococcus lactis subspecies possess a citrate permease that enables them to utilize citrate and to produce diacetyl. Such strains are classified as diacetylactis biovariants (L. lactis ssp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis). We investigated the electron-donor surface properties of L. lactis strains and observed that the diacetylactis biovariants presented increased adhesion to electron-acceptor solvents (microbial adhesion to solvents electron-donor characteristics of cells of <27% for L. lactis and about 50% for L. lactis ssp. lactis biovar diacetylactis). We investigated the properties of a pCitP- derivative and observed for a diacetylactis biovariant strain a loss of the electron-donor characteristics falling from 47% for a pCitP+ strain to 8% for its pCitP- derivative. This suggests that the presence of high electron-donor characteristics on the surface of L. lactis results to a large extent from the presence of the citrate permease plasmid.

Domaines: Biotechnologies; Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire

Mai Huong Ly, Jean-François Cavin, Rémy Cachon, Thanh Mai Lê, Jean-Marc Belin, et al.. Relationship between the presence of the citrate permease plasmid and high electron-donor surface properties of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis.. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 2007, 268 (2), pp.166-70. ⟨10.1111/j.1574-6968.2006.00570.x⟩. ⟨hal-00368194⟩