Biochemical, genetic and transcriptional characterization of multibacteriocin production by the anti-pneumococcal dairy strain Streptococcus infantarius LP90

PLoS One. 2020 Mar 5;15(3):e0229417. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229417. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae infections are one of the major causes of morbility and mortality worldwide. Although vaccination and antibiotherapy constitute fundamental and complementary strategies against pneumococcal infections, they present some limitations including the increase in non-vaccine serotypes and the emergence of multidrug-resistances, respectively. Ribosomally-synthesized antimicrobial peptides (i.e. bacteriocins) produced by Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) may represent an alternative or complementary strategy to antibiotics for the control of pneumococal infections. We tested the antimicrobial activity of 37 bacteriocinogenic LAB, isolated from food and other sources, against clinical S. pneumoniae strains. Streptococcus infantarius subsp. infantarius LP90, isolated from Venezuelan water-buffalo milk, was selected because of its broad and strong anti-pneumococcal spectrum. The in vitro safety assessment of S. infantarius LP90 revealed that it may be considered avirulent. The analysis of a 19,539-bp cluster showed the presence of 29 putative open reading frames (ORFs), including the genes encoding 8 new class II-bacteriocins, as well as the proteins involved in their secretion, immunity and regulation. Transcriptional analyses evidenced that the induction factor (IF) structural gene, the bacteriocin/IF transporter genes, the bacteriocin structural genes and most of the bacteriocin immunity genes were transcribed. MALDI-TOF analyses of peptides purified using different multichromatographic procedures revealed that the dairy strain S. infantarius LP90 produces at least 6 bacteriocins, including infantaricin A1, a novel anti-pneumococcal two-peptide bacteriocin.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / administration & dosage
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / isolation & purification
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / metabolism*
  • Bacteriocins / administration & dosage
  • Bacteriocins / genetics*
  • Bacteriocins / isolation & purification
  • Bacteriocins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Pneumococcal Infections / genetics
  • Pneumococcal Infections / metabolism*
  • Pneumococcal Infections / microbiology
  • Streptococcus / classification
  • Streptococcus / drug effects*
  • Streptococcus / isolation & purification*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Bacteriocins

Supplementary concepts

  • Streptococcus infantarius

Grants and funding

This work was supported by projects RTI2018-094907-B-I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICINN, Madrid, Spain), 07CSA007E from the Junta de Galicia, Spain, AGL2012-34829 from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO, Madrid, Spain), and S-2009/AGR-1489 and S-2013/ABI-2747 from Consejería de Educación, Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. C. Campanero and E. Muñoz-Atienza were recipients of predoctoral fellowships (FPU) from UCM, Spain. J. Feito holds a contract from UCM. S. Arbulu held a predoctoral fellowship (FPI) from MINECO.