Isolation and Characterisation of Bacteriocin and Aggregation-Promoting Factor
Production in Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis BGBM50 Strain
Nemanja Mirkovic1,2, Zorica Radulovic1, Gordana Uzelac2, Jelena Lozo2,3, Dragojlo Obradovic1,
Ljubisa Topisirovic2 and Milan Kojic2*
1Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, RS-11080 Belgrade, Serbia
2Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, RS-11010 Belgrade, Serbia
3Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, RS-11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Article history:
Received August 4, 2014
Accepted March 3, 2015
Key words:
bacteriocin lactococcin G, aggregation-promoting factor, plasmid curing
Summary:
Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis BGBM50, a producer of lactococcin G and aggregation-promoting factor, was isolated from selected lactic acid bacteria taken from semi-hard cheese traditionally produced in the village Žanjic, Montenegro. Strain BGBM50 harbours a number of plasmids of different sizes. Plasmid curing experiments showed that genes for bacteriocin production are located on pBM140, a plasmid 140 kb in length. PCR analysis with primers specific for lactococcin Q and G genes gave fragment of the expected size. In addition, after plasmid curing of strain BGBM50, different derivatives with altered phenotypes were obtained, among them BGBM50-34 strain, which retained bacteriocin synthesis but had enhanced aggregation ability.
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