Although many Lactobacillus strains used as probiotics are believed to modulate host immune responses, the molecular natures of the components of such probiotic microorganisms directly involved in immune modulation process are largely unknown. We aimed to assess the function of polysaccharide moiety of the cell wall of Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota as a possible immune modulator which regulates cytokine production by macrophages. A gene survey of the genome sequence of L. casei Shirota hunted down a unique cluster of 10 genes, most of whose predicted amino acid sequences had similarities to various extents to known proteins involved in biosynthesis of extracellular or capsular polysaccharides from other lactic acid bacteria. Gene knockout mutants of eight genes from this cluster resulted in the loss of reactivity to L. casei Shirota-specific monoclonal antibody and extreme reduction of high-molecular-mass polysaccharides in the cell wall fraction, indicating that at least these genes are involved in biosynthesis of high-molecular-mass cell wall polysaccharides. By adding heat-killed mutant cells to mouse macrophage cell lines or to mouse spleen cells, the production of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-12 (IL-12), IL-10, and IL-6 was more stimulated than by wild-type cells. In addition, these mutants additively enhanced lipopolysaccharide-induced IL-6 production by RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage-like cells, while wild-type cells significantly suppressed the IL-6 production of RAW 264.7. Collectively, these results indicate that this cluster of genes of L. casei Shirota, which have been named cps1A, cps1B, cps1C, cps1D, cps1E, cps1F, cps1G, and cps1J, determine the synthesis of the highmolecular-mass polysaccharide moiety of the L. casei Shirota cell wall and that this polysaccharide moiety is the relevant immune modulator which may function to reduce excessive immune reactions during the activation of macrophages by L. casei Shirota.

The Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota used in this study has in the genome four putative thioredoxin genes designated trxA1, trxA2, trxA3 and trxA4, and one putative thioredoxin reductase gene designated trxB. To elucidate the roles of the thioredoxins and the thioredoxin reductase against oxidative stress in L. casei, we constructed gene disruption mutants, in which each of the genes trxA1, trxA2 and trxB, or both trxA1 and trxA2 were disrupted, and we characterized their growth and response to oxidative stresses. In aerobic conditions, the trxA1 (MS108) and the trxA2 (MS109) mutants had moderate growth defects, and the trxA1 trxA2 double mutant (MS110) had a severe growth defect, which was characterized by elongation of doubling time and a lower final turbidity level. Furthermore, the trxB mutant (MS111), which is defective in thioredoxin reductase, lost the ability to grow under aerobic conditions, although it grew partially under anaerobic conditions. The growth of these mutants, however, could be substantially restored by the addition of dithiothreitol or reduced glutathione. In addition, MS110 and MS111 were more sensitive to hydrogen peroxide and disulfide stress than the wild-type. In particular, the stress sensitivity of MS111 was significantly increased. On the other hand, transcription of all these genes was only weakly affected by these oxidative stresses. Taken together, these results suggest that the thioredoxin-thioredoxin reductase system is the major thiol/disulfide redox system and is essential to allow the facultative anaerobe L. casei to grow under aerobic conditions.

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Fructosyl amino acid oxidase, an enzyme that can be used for the determination of glycated proteins in blood samples from diabetic patients, was used to screen cultures in our microorganism culture collection. Fructosyl amino acid oxidase was found only in the strains of four genera of fungi, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Gibberella, and Penicillium and exhibited different substrate specificities against fructosyl valine and N-fructosyl N ␣-Z-lysine. A fructosyl valine-specific enzyme from Penicillium janthinellum AKU3413 was monomeric (M r , 49,000), was most active at 35؇C and pH 8.0, and had a covalently bound flavin adenine dinucleotide as a prosthetic group.

These results demonstrate that LcS does not exacerbate, but instead may improve EAE depending on the immunization conditions, and that IL-17 responses at peripheral sites may not always result in a worsening of autoimmune diseases.