The methanolic extract of leaves of Mesua ferrea Linn. were tested for its antibacterial potentiality against 103 various strains of bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus spps. Klebsiella spps., Streptococus pneumoniae, Sarcina lutea, Lactobacilus arabinosus, Escherichia coli, shigellae, salmonellae, Proteus spps., Pseudomonas spps. and the vibrios. Significant antibacterial effect...

In low-GC Gram-positive bacteria, carbon catabolite repression (CCR) is exerted by transcriptional regulation through a protein complex consisting of catabolite control protein CcpA and serine phosphorylated phosphocarrier protein HPr (HPr-ser-P). We investigated the interaction between these components of Lactobacillus casei and Bacillus megaterium. CcpA of L. casei could not complement a B. m...

One hundred eighty four strains belonging to the species Lactobacillus casei, L. paracasei and L. rhamnosus were screened for their ability to grow under aerobic conditions, in media containing heme and menaquinone and/or compounds generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), in order to identify respiratory and oxygen-tolerant phenotypes. Most strains were able to cope with aerobic conditions and...

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) species are envisioned as promising vehicles for the mucosal delivery of therapeutic and prophylactic molecules, including the development of oral vaccines. In this study, we report on the expression of a synthetic nucleocapsid (NP) gene of influenza A virus in Lactobacillus casei. The NP gene was re-designed based on the tRNA pool and the codon usage preference of L....

AIMS To characterize the functionality of the Lactobacillus casei BL23 fbpA gene encoding a putative fibronectin-binding protein. METHODS AND RESULTS Adhesion tests showed that L. casei BL23 binds immobilized and soluble fibronectin in a protease-sensitive manner. A mutant with inactivated fbpA showed a decrease in binding to immobilized fibronectin and a strong reduction in the surface hydro...

There is an increasing interest to develop various lactic acid bacteria (LAB) species as mucosal delivery vehicles, for which the development of a variety of cloning and expression systems for these bacteria is of primary importance. This study reports the complete nucleotide sequence of the cryptic plasmid pRCEID7.6 derived from the chicken probiotic LAB strain Lactobacillus casei TISTR1341. S...

The growth characteristics of five bacteria, Brevibacterium aurantiacum 1-16-58, Corynebacterium casei DPC 5298(T), Corynebacterium variabile DPC 5310, Microbacterium gubbeenense DPC 5286(T), and Staphylococcus saprophyticus 4E61, all of which were isolated from the surface of smear cheese, were studied in complex and chemically defined media. All of the coryneforms, except M. gubbeenense, grew...

Lactobacillus casei strains are widely used in industry and the utility of this organism in these industrial applications is strain dependent. Hence, tools capable of predicting strain specific phenotypes would have utility in the selection of strains for specific industrial processes. Genome-scale metabolic models can be utilized to better understand genotype-phenotype relationships and to com...

BACKGROUND Human immune cells generate large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) throughout the respiratory burst that occurs during inflammation. In inflammatory bowel diseases, a sustained and abnormal activation of the immune system results in oxidative stress in the digestive tract and in a loss of intestinal homeostasis. We previously showed that the heterologous production of the Lac...

The lactose operon from Lactobacillus casei is regulated by very tight glucose repression and substrate induction mechanisms, which made it a tempting candidate system for the expression of foreign genes or metabolic engineering. An integrative vector was constructed, allowing stable gene insertion in the chromosomal lactose operon of L. casei. This vector was based on the nonreplicative plasmi...