Production of pediocin AcH by Lactobacillus plantarum WHE 92 isolated from cheese

Abstract

Among 1,962 bacterial isolates from a smear-surface soft cheese (Munster cheese) screened for activity against Listeria monocytogenes, six produced antilisterial compounds other than organic acids. The bacterial strain WHE 92, which displayed the strongest antilisterial effect, was identified at the DNA level as Lactobacillus plantarum. The proteinaceous nature, narrow inhibitory spectrum, and bactericidal mode of action of the antilisterial compound produced by this bacterium suggested that it was a bacteriocin. Purification to homogeneity and sequencing of this bacteriocin showed that it was a 4.6-kDa, 44-amino-acid peptide, the primary structure of which was identical to that of pediocin AcH produced by different Pediococcus acidilactici strains. We report the first case of the same bacteriocin appearing naturally with bacteria of different genera. Whereas the production of pediocin AcH from P. acidilactici H was considerably reduced when the final pH of the medium exceeded 5.0, no reduction in the production of pediocin AcH from L. plantarum WHE 92 was observed when the pH of the medium was up to 6.0. This fact is important from an industrial angle. As the pH of dairy products is often higher than 5.0, L. plantarum WHE 92, which develops particularly well in cheeses, could constitute an effective means of biological combat against L. monocytogenes in this type of foodstuff.

A single exposure to a sublethal pediocin concentration initiates a resistance‐associated temporal cell envelope and general stress response in Listeria monocytogenes

“…Pediococcus acidilactici produces the class IIa bacteriocin pediocin, which inhibits the growth of L. monocytogenes in meat and dairy products (Rodríguez et al, 2002). However, pediococci are not well adapted to dairy substrates, whereas another pediocin producer, Lactobacillus plantarum WHE 92, originally isolated from cheese (Ennahar et al, 1996), inhibited L. monocytogenes in situ during cheese ripening in laboratory experiments (Ennahar et al, 1998;Loessner et al, 2003). Neither consumption of L. plantarum WHE 92 nor pediocin disturbs the resident intestinal microbiota of mice or humanized rats (Bernbom et al, 2009;Dabour et al, 2009).…”

Applicability of bacteriocin‐producing Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium and Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis as adjunct starter in Minas Frescal cheesemaking

“…Its effectiveness as a food preservative has been demonstrated in several different cheese varieties (Olasupo et al 1999;Rodriguez et al 2001;Hamama et al 2002). Besides nisin, other bacteriocins, such as pediocin AcH produced by Pediococcus acidilactici H (Bhunia et al 1987) and by Lactobacillus plantarum WHE (Ennahar et al 1996) and enterocins produced by Enterococcus faecium (Ennahar and Deschamps 2000) and by E. faecalis (García et al 2004) have been evaluated for commercial application. Pediocin AcH has antimicrobial activity, particularly against L. monocytogenes (Loessner et al 2003), in addition to being as safe as nisin (Ennahar et al 1996).…”

“…Besides nisin, other bacteriocins, such as pediocin AcH produced by Pediococcus acidilactici H (Bhunia et al 1987) and by Lactobacillus plantarum WHE (Ennahar et al 1996) and enterocins produced by Enterococcus faecium (Ennahar and Deschamps 2000) and by E. faecalis (García et al 2004) have been evaluated for commercial application. Pediocin AcH has antimicrobial activity, particularly against L. monocytogenes (Loessner et al 2003), in addition to being as safe as nisin (Ennahar et al 1996). The enterocins exhibit selective antimicrobial activity as, although not effective against the genera Leuconostoc and Lactococcus, they do display activity against some species of Clostridium, Staphylococcus and Listeria (Laukova et al 2001;Moreno et al 2002).…”

Differences in mesentericin secretion systems from twoLeuconostocstrains

“…Among these antibacterial peptides, lantibiotics have been widely studied and are currently been used, in many countries, as preservatives in food products [1]. Another group of peptides forms a subclass known as the anti-Listeria bacteriocins, alternatively named class IIa bacteriocins [2] or cystibiotics [3], which are characterised by the consensus sequence YGNGV(X)C(X) 4 C(X)V(X) 4 A (where X represents any amino acid).…”

“…Many of these antagonistic compounds are produced by more than one LAB strain ( Table 1). For instance, pediocin PA-1 appears to be produced by numerous Pediococcus acidilactici strains and by at least one Lactobacillus strain [4] isolated from food. These data suggest that bacteriocin-encoding genes may have been transferred between LAB which may not necessarily belong to the same genera or species.…”