Transcriptome response of Lactobacillus sakei to meat protein environment

Lactobacillus sakei is a heterofermentative species of lactic acid bacteria that is used in industrial meat fermentation. To investigate adaptation in a meat environment, whole-genome DNA microarrays were used to analyze the gene expression related to growth and survival of L. sakei strain La22 when grown in sarcoplasmic (S-) or myofibrillar (M-) protein-supplemented chemically defined medium (CDM). Differential expression was detected in 551 genes. Genes encoding enzymes involved in peptide hydrolysis were differentially upregulated in M-CDM or/and S-CDM, and only oppB and oppC, involved in the amino acid and peptide transport system, were upregulated. Most genes related to metabolism of peptides, amino acids and related molecules were over-expressed in M-CDM and S-CDM, except for glnA and metK. Expression of certain genes was according to the differential substrate environment. The expression of genes involved in the stress response was not induced by growth in M-CDM.