Putrescine biosynthesis in Lactococcus lactis is transcriptionally activated at acidic pH and counteracts acidification of the cytosol

Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris CECT 8666 is a lactic acid bacterium that synthesizes the biogenic amine putrescine from agmatine via the agmatine deiminase (AGDI) pathway. The AGDI genes cluster includes aguR. This encodes a transmembrane protein that functions as a one-component signal transduc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Río Lagar, Beatriz del, Linares, Daniel M., Ladero Losada, Víctor Manuel, Redruello, Begoña, Fernández García, María, Martín, M. Cruz, Álvarez González, Miguel Ángel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/143481
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/143481
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Lactococcus lactis
Acid stress
pH induction
AGDI cluster
Putrescine
Biogenic amines
Descripción
Sumario:Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris CECT 8666 is a lactic acid bacterium that synthesizes the biogenic amine putrescine from agmatine via the agmatine deiminase (AGDI) pathway. The AGDI genes cluster includes aguR. This encodes a transmembrane protein that functions as a one-component signal transduction system, the job of which is to sense the agmatine concentration of the medium and accordingly regulate the transcription of the catabolic operon aguBDAC. The latter encodes the proteins necessary for agmatine uptake and its conversion into putrescine. This work reports the effect of extracellular pH on putrescine biosynthesis and on the genetic regulation of the AGDI pathway. Increased putrescine biosynthesis was detected at acidic pH (pH 5) compared to neutral pH. Acidic pH induced the transcription of the catabolic operon via the activation of the aguBDAC promoter P. However, the external pH had no significant effect on the activity of the aguR promoter P, or on the transcription of the aguR gene. The transcriptional activation of the AGDI pathway was also found to require a lower agmatine concentration at pH 5 than at neutral pH. Finally, the following of the AGDI pathway counteracted the acidification of the cytoplasm under acidic external conditions, suggesting it to provide protection against acid stress.