biostudies-literatureUnknown9Dijkstra ARThe viability of starter cultures is essential for an adequate contribution to the fermentation process and end-product. Therefore, robustness during processing and storage is an important characteristic of starter culture strains. For instance, during spray drying cells are exposed to heat and oxidative stress, generally resulting in loss of viability. In this study, we exposed the industrially relevant but stress-sensitive <i>Lactococcus lactis</i> strain SK11 to two cycles of heat stress, with intermediate recovery and cultivation at moderate temperatures. After these two cycles of heat exposure, the abundance of robust derivatives was increased as compared with the original culture, which enabled isolation of heat-resistant subpopulations displaying up to 1,000-fold enhanced heat stresFrontiers in microbiology2418https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC6196286biostudies-literatureTranscriptome Analysis of a Spray Drying-Resistant Subpopulation Reveals a Zinc-Dependent Mechanism for Robustness in <i>L. lactis</i> SK11.PMC6196286Bron PAHugenholtz JStarrenburg MJCvan Hijum SAFTTodt TDijkstra ARfalseTranscriptome Analysis of a Spray Drying-Resistant Subpopulation Reveals a Zinc-Dependent Mechanism for Robustness in <i>L. lactis</i> SK11.The viability of starter cultures is essential for an adequate contribution to the fermentation process and end-product. Therefore, robustness during processing and storage is an important characteristic of starter culture strains. For instance, during spray drying cells are exposed to heat and oxidative stress, generally resulting in loss of viability. In this study, we exposed the industrially relevant but stress-sensitive <i>Lactococcus lactis</i> strain SK11 to two cycles of heat stress, with intermediate recovery and cultivation at moderate temperatures. After these two cycles of heat exposure, the abundance of robust derivatives was increased as compared with the original culture, which enabled isolation of heat-resistant subpopulations displaying up to 1,000-fold enhanced heat stres2018-01-01T00:00:00Z20182026-04-07T15:55:29.873Z2019-03-27T00:04:30ZS-EPMC61962863037433810.3389/fmicb.2018.02418