1 research outputs found
Coculture with specific bacteria enhances survival of Lactobacillus plantarum NC8, an autoinducer-regulated bacteriocin producer, in olive fermentations
Bacteriocin production in Lactobacillus plantarum NC8 is activated by coculture with specific bacteriocin
production-inducing bacterial strains. The system is further regulated by a three-component regulatory
system involving a specific autoinducer peptide (PLNC8IF). We have used L. plantarum NC8 as a starter
culture in Spanish-style green olive fermentations and examined the influence of coculturing in its
survival. We found that L. plantarum NC8 greatly enhanced its growth and survival in the olive fermentations
when coinoculated with two specific bacteriocin-production inducing strains, i.e. Enterococcus
faecium 6T1a-20 and Pediococcus pentosaceus FBB63, when compared to singly-inoculated fermentations.
In addition, a constitutive bacteriocin-producer NC8-derivative strain was used as a control in the olive
fermentations and showed also better viability than the parental NC8 strain. Our results suggest the
involvement of bacteriocin production in the viability enhancement found in both cases. We postulate
that the presence of specific bacteria is recognized by L. plantarum NC8 as an environmental stimulus to
switch a specific adaptive response on, most probably involving bacteriocin production. The design of
novel bacteriocin-producing starter cultures for food fermentations should consider their constitutive
versus regulated character.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) through the Projects AGL2006-00763 and AGL2009-07861, respectively. A.M.-B. was the recipient of a grant from MEC-MCYT (FPI Programme). We want to express our gratitude to Mrs. Elena Cabello Herrera and Mr. Francisco Sánchez Roldán, from the Instituto de la Grasa (CSIC, Sevilla) for their skilful technical assistance.Peer reviewe