Requirement of the Lactobacillus casei MaeKR two-component system for L-malic acid utilization via a malic enzyme pathway.

ABSTRACT: Lactobacillus casei can metabolize L-malic acid via malolactic enzyme (malolactic fermentation [MLF]) or malic enzyme (ME). Whereas utilization of L-malic acid via MLF does not support growth, the ME pathway enables L. casei to grow on L-malic acid. In this work, we have identified in the genomes of L. casei strains BL23 and ATCC 334 a cluster consisting of two diverging operons, maePE and maeKR, encoding a putative malate transporter (maeP), an ME (maeE), and a two-component (TC) system belonging to the citrate family (maeK and maeR). Homologous clusters were identified in Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Streptococcus uberis. Our results show that ME is essential for L-malic acid utilization in L. casei. Furthermore, deletion of either the gene

SUBMITTER: Landete JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2798650 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature