Induction of heavy-metal-transporting CPX-type ATPases during acid adaptation in Lactobacillus bulgaricus

Lactobacillus bulgaricus is a lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that, through the production of lactic acid, gradually acidifies its environment during growth. In the course of this process, L. bulgaricus acquires an improved tolerance to acidity. A survey of the recently established genome sequence shows that this bacterium possesses few of the pH control functions that have been described in other LAB and raises the question of what other mechanisms could be involved in its adaptation to the decreasing environmental pH. In some bacteria other than LAB, ion transport systems have been implicated in acid adaptation. We therefore studied the expression of this type of transport system during acid adaptation in L. bulgaricus by reverse transcription and real-time quantitative PCR and mapped transcription start sites. Intriguingly, the most significantly induced were three ATPases carrying the CPX signature of heavy-metal transporters. Protein homology and the presence of a conserved sequence motif in the promoter regions of the genes encoding these proteins strongly suggest that they are involved in copper homeostasis. Induction of this system is thought to assist in avoiding indirect damage that could result from medium acidification.