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Appl. Environ. Microbiol., Nov 1997, 4252-4260, Vol 63, No. 11
A Rince, A Dufour, P Uguen, JP Le Pennec and D Haras
The lantibiotic lacticin 481 is a bacteriocin produced by Lactococcus
lactis strains. The genetic determinants of lacticin 481 production are
organized as an operon encoded by a 70-kb plasmid. We previously reported
the first three genes of this operon, lctA, lctM, and lctT, which are
involved in the bacteriocin biosynthesis and export (A. Rince, A. Dufour,
S. Le Pogam, D. Thuault, C. M. Bourgeois, and J.-P. Le Pennec, Appl.
Environ. Microbiol. 60:1652-1657, 1994). The operon contains three
additional open reading frames: lctF, lctE, and lctG. The hydrophobicity
profiles and sequence similarities strongly suggest that the three gene
products associate to form an ABC transporter. When the three genes were
coexpressed into a lacticin 481-sensitive L. lactis strain, the strain
became resistant to the bacteriocin. This protection could not be obtained
when any of the three genes was deleted, confirming that lctF, lctE, and
lctG are all necessary to provide immunity to lacticin 481. The
quantification of the levels of immunity showed that lctF, lctE, and lctG
could account for at least 6% and up to 100% of the immunity of the
wild-type lacticin 481 producer strain, depending on the gene expression
regulation. The lacticin 481 biosynthesis and immunity systems are
discussed and compared to other lantibiotic systems.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Characterization of the lacticin 481 operon: the Lactococcus lactis genes lctF, lctE, and lctG encode a putative ABC transporter involved in bacteriocin immunity
Laboratoire de Genetique Moleculaire, CNRS URA 256, Universite de Rennes I, France.
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