A food-grade cloning system for industrial strains of Lactococcus lactis

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2000 Apr;66(4):1253-8. doi: 10.1128/AEM.66.4.1253-1258.2000.

Abstract

We have previously reported the construction of a food-grade cloning vector for Lactococcus using the ochre suppressor, supB, as the selective marker. This vector, pFG1, causes only a slight growth inhibition in the laboratory strain MG1363 but is unstable in the industrial strains tested. As supB suppresses both amber and ochre stop codons, which are present in 82% of all known lactococcal genes, this undesirable finding may result from the accumulation of elongated mistranslated polypeptides. Here, we report the development of a new food-grade cloning vector, pFG200, which is suitable for overexpressing a variety of genes in industrial strains of Lactococcus lactis. The vector uses an amber suppressor, supD, as selectable marker and consists entirely of Lactococcus DNA, with the exception of a small polylinker region. Using suppressible pyrimidine auxotrophs, selection and maintenance are efficient in any pyrimidine-free medium including milk. Importantly, the presence of this vector in a variety of industrial strains has no significant effect on the growth rate or the rate of acidification in milk, making this an ideal system for food-grade modification of industrially relevant L. lactis strains. The usefulness of this system is demonstrated by overexpressing the pepN gene in a number of industrial backgrounds.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Aminopeptidases / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Base Sequence
  • Cloning, Molecular*
  • Electroporation
  • Food Industry*
  • Food Microbiology*
  • Genetic Vectors*
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Lactococcus lactis / genetics*
  • Lactococcus lactis / growth & development
  • Milk / microbiology
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutation
  • Plasmids / genetics
  • Pyrimidines / metabolism
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Transcription, Genetic

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Pyrimidines
  • Aminopeptidases
  • lysyl aminopeptidase

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AF174425