Impacts of pH-mediated EPS structure on probiotic bacterial pili-whey proteins interactions

Probiotic bacteria are routinely incorporated into dairy foods because of the health benefits they can provide when consumed. In this work, the marked pH-dependence of the pili/EPS organization at the outer surface of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG is characterized in detail by Single Cell Force Microscopy and cell electrophoretic mobility measurements analyzed according to formalisms for nanomechanical contact and soft particle electrokinetics, respectively. At pH 6.8, LGG pili are easily accessible by AFM tips functionalized with whey proteins for specific binding, while at pH 4.8 the collapsed EPS surface layer significantly immobilized the LGG pili. This resulted in their reduced accessibility to the specific whey-coated AFM tip, and to stronger whey protein-pili rupture forces. Thus, pili interactions with whey proteins are screened to an extent that depends on the pH-mediated embedment of the pili within the EPS layer.