With the aim to extend the presently available inducible gene expression systems for lactobacilli, we have isolated a thermoinducible promoter-repressor cassette from the temperate Lactobacillus casei phage phiFSW-TI in Escherichia coli. The phiFSW-TI promoter fragment was abutted to the plasmid-borne promoterless beta-glucuronidase (gusA) reporter gene and shown to direct its transcription in ...

1,4-Dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid (DHNA) is a bifidogenic growth stimulator (BGS) and could be a functional food ingredient since bifidobacteria are beneficial for human health. For that reason, lactic acid bacteria producing DHNA have been screened. A lactic acid bacterium LP1 strain isolated from a natural cheese was confirmed to produce DHNA, analyzed by a HPLC method. The strain was identified...

Pre- and/or probiotics can cause changes in the ecological balance of intestinal microbiota and hence influence microbial metabolic activities. In the present study, the influence of oligofructose-enriched inulin (OF-IN), Lactobacillus casei Shirota, and Bifidobacterium breve Yakult on the colonic fate of NH3 and p-cresol was investigated. A randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study was p...

Hydrophilic and electrostatic cell surface properties of eight Lactobacillus strains were characterized by using the microbial adhesion to solvents method and microelectrophoresis, respectively. All strains appeared relatively hydrophilic. The strong microbial adhesion to chloroform, an acidic solvent, in comparison with microbial adhesion to hexadecane, an apolar n-alkane, demonstrated the par...

In bacteria, cysteine can be synthesized from serine by two steps involving an L-serine O-acetyltransferase (SAT) and a cysteine synthase (CysK). While CysK is found in the publicly available annotated genome from Lactobacillus casei ATCC 334, a gene encoding SAT (cysE) is missing. In this study, we found that various strains of L. casei grew in a chemically defined medium containing sulfide as...

The genomes of Lactobacillus casei/paracasei and Lactobacillus rhamnosus strains carry two genes encoding homologues of p40 and p75 from L. rhamnosus GG, two secreted proteins which display anti-apoptotic and cell protective effects on human intestinal epithelial cells. p40 and p75 carry cysteine, histidine-dependent aminohydrolase/peptidase (CHAP) and NLPC/P60 domains, respectively, which are ...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of probiotic lactobacilli on Streptococcus mutans (MS) and multispecies biofilms isolated from children with severe caries. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty children with active caries (DMFS ≥6) were selected as the experimental group and Streptococcus mutans (MS) were isolated from their saliva. After identification the MS stra...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the survivability of three probiotic strains Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobaterium bifidum in ice cream using microencapsulation by calcium alginate and whey protein concentrate. Also, the effect of different prebiotics (inulin, lactulose and Fructooligosaccharides) was studied. Six types of synbiotic ice cream containing free and ...

We examined colonization patterns of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), concentrations of Shiga toxins (Stxs) and specific immunoglobulin A (lgA) against Stxs and STEC bacterial cell surface antigen in various portions of the gastrointestinal tract in an infant rabbit infection model. After inoculation of 3-day-old infant rabbits with STEC strain 89020087 at low doses (approximately...

The sulfur nutrition of microorganisms has been studied by many investigators. Early workers were interested essentially in sulfur compounds used by organisms as sulfur sources. Recent efforts have been directed toward the determination of mechanisms involved in the utilization of sulfur compounds. Results of investigations by Horowitz (1947), Lampen et al. (1947), Teas et al. (1948), Binkley a...