The effects of nisin-induced dnaK expression in Lactococcus lactis were examined, and this expression was shown to improve stress tolerance and lactic acid fermentation efficiency. Using a nisin-inducible expression system, DnaK proteins from L. lactis (DnaKLla) and Escherichia coli (DnaKEco) were produced in L. lactis NZ9000. In comparison to a strain harboring the empty vector pNZ8048 (designated NZ-Vector) and one expressing dnaKLla (designated NZ-LDnaK), the dnaKEco-expressing strain, named NZ-EDnaK, exhibited more tolerance to heat stress at 40°C in GM17 liquid medium. The cell viability of NZ-Vector was reduced 4.6-fold after 6 h of heat treatment. However, NZ-EDnaK showed 13.5-fold increased viability under these conditions, with a very low concentration of DnaKEco production. Although the heterologous expression of dnaKEco did not effect DnaKLla production, heat treatment increased the DnaKLla level 3.5- and 3.6-fold in NZ-Vector and NZ-EDnaK, respectively. Moreover, NZ-EDnaK showed tolerance to multiple stresses, including 3% NaCl, 5% ethanol, and 0.5% lactic acid (pH 5.47). In CMG medium, the lactate yield and the maximum lactate productivity of NZ-EDnaK were higher than the corresponding values for NZ-Vector at 30°C. Interestingly, at 40°C, these values of NZ-EDnaK were not significantly different from the corresponding values for the control strain at 30°C. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity was also found to be stable at 40°C in the presence of DnaKEco. These findings suggest that the heterologous expression of dnaKEco enhances the quality control of proteins and enzymes, resulting in improved growth and lactic acid fermentation at high temperature.

Improvement of multiple-stress tolerance and lactic acid production in Lactococcus lactis NZ9000 under conditions of thermal stress by heterologous expression of Escherichia coli DnaK.

Background 
Phenyllactic acid (PLA), a novel antimicrobial compound with broad and effective antimicrobial activity against both bacteria and fungi, can be produced by many microorganisms, especially lactic acid bacteria. However, the concentration and productivity of PLA have been low in previous studies. The enzymes responsible for conversion of phenylpyruvic acid (PPA) into PLA are equivocal.


Methodology/Principal Findings 
A novel thermophilic strain, Bacillus coagulans SDM, was isolated for production of PLA. When the solubility and dissolution rate of PPA were enhanced at a high temperature, whole cells of B. coagulans SDM could effectively convert PPA into PLA at a high concentration (37.3 g l−1) and high productivity (2.3 g l−1 h−1) under optimal conditions. Enzyme activity staining and kinetic studies identified NAD-dependent lactate dehydrogenases as the key enzymes that reduced PPA to PLA.


Conclusions/Significance 
Taking advantage of the thermophilic character of B. coagulans SDM, a high yield and productivity of PLA were obtained. The enzymes involved in PLA production were identified and characterized, which makes possible the rational design and construction of microorganisms suitable for PLA production with metabolic engineering.

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Efficient conversion of phenylpyruvic acid to phenyllactic acid by using whole cells of Bacillus coagulans SDM.

Allosteric signaling in biological molecules, which may be viewed as specific action at a distance due to localized perturbation upon binding of ligands or changes in environmental cues, is pervasive in biology. Insightful phenomenological Monod, Wyman, and Changeux (MWC) and Koshland, Nemethy, and Filmer (KNF) models galvanized research in describing allosteric transitions for over five decades, and these models continue to be the basis for describing the mechanisms of allostery in a bewildering array of systems. However, understanding allosteric signaling and the associated dynamics between distinct allosteric states at the molecular level is challenging and requires novel experiments complemented by computational studies. In this review, we first describe symmetry and rigidity as essential requirements for allosteric proteins or multisubunit structures. The general features, with MWC and KNF as two extreme scenarios, emerge when allosteric signaling is viewed from an energy landscape perspective. To go beyond the general theories, we describe computational tools that are either based solely on multiple sequences or their structures to predict the allostery wiring diagram. These methods could be used to predict the network of residues that carry allosteric signals. Methods to obtain molecular insights into the dynamics of allosteric transitions are briefly mentioned. The utility of the methods is illustrated by applications to systems ranging from monomeric proteins in which there is little conformational change in the transition between two allosteric states to membrane bound G-protein coupled receptors and multisubunit proteins. Finally, the role allostery plays in the functions of ATP-consuming molecular machines, bacterial chaperonin GroEL and molecular motors, is described. Although universal molecular principles governing allosteric signaling do not exist, we can draw the following general conclusions from a survey of different systems. (1) Multiple pathways connecting allosteric states are highly heterogeneous. (2) Allosteric signaling is exquisitely sensitive to the specific architecture of the system, which implies that the capacity for allostery is encoded in the structure itself. (3) The mechanical modes that connect distinct allosteric states are robust to sequence variations. (4) Extensive investigations of allostery in Hemoglobin and, more recently GroEL, show that to a large extent a network of salt bridge rearrangements serves as allosteric switches. In both these examples the dynamical changes in the allosteric switches are related to function.

Symmetry, Rigidity, and Allosteric Signaling: From Monomeric Proteins to Molecular Machines.

The structural gene for L-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (EC.1.1.1.27) from Clostridium thermocellum 27405 was cloned in Escherichia coli by screening the Lambda Zap II phage library of C. thermocellu...

Cloning and expression of the Clostridium thermocellum L-lactate dehydrogenase gene in Escherichia coli and enzyme characterization.

We previously reported on the impacts of the overexpression of individual genes of the glycolytic pathway encoding glucokinase (GLK), glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), phosphofructokinase (PFK), triosephosphate isomerase (TPI), and bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) on D-lactate productivity in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen-deprived conditions. Searching for synergies, in the current study, we simultaneously overexpressed the five glycolytic genes in a stepwise fashion to evaluate the effect of the cumulative overexpression of glycolytic genes on D-lactate production. Interestingly, the final D-lactate concentration markedly differed depending on whether or not the PFK encoding gene was overexpressed when combined with overexpressing other glycolytic genes. The simultaneous overexpression of the GLK, GAPDH, TPI, and FBA encoding genes led to the highest initial D-lactate concentration at 10 h. However, this particular recombinant strain dramatically slowed producing D-lactate when a concentration of 1300 mM was reached, typically after 32 h. In contrast, the strain overexpressing the PFK encoding gene together with the GLK, GAPDH, TPI, and FBA encoding genes showed 12.7 % lower initial D-lactate concentration at 10 h than that observed with the strain overexpressing the genes coding for GLK, GAPDH, TPI, and FBA. However, this recombinant strain continued to produce D-lactate after 32 h, reaching 2169 mM after a mineral salts medium bioprocess incubation period of 80 h. These results suggest that overexpression of the PFK encoding gene is essential for achieving high production of D-lactate. Our findings provide interesting options to explore for using C. glutamicum for cost-efficient production of D-lactate at the industrial scale.

Overexpression of the phosphofructokinase encoding gene is crucial for achieving high production of D-lactate in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen deprivation

Lactobacillus casei allosteric L-lactate dehydrogenase (L-LDH) absolutely requires fructose 1,6-bisphosphate [Fru(1,6)P 2 ] for its catalytic activity under neutral conditions, but exhibits marked catalytic activity in theabsence of Fru(1,6)P 2 under acidic conditions through the homotropic activation effect of substrate pyruvate. In this enzyme, a single amino acid replacement, i.e. that of His205 conserved in the Fru(1,6)P 2 -binding site of certain allosteric L-LDHs of lactic acid bacteria with Thr, did not induce a marked loss of the activation effect of Fru(1,6)P 2 or divalent metal ions, which are potent activators that improve the activation function of Fru(1,6)P 2 under neutral conditions. However, this replacement induced a great loss of the Fru(1,6)P 2 -independent activation effect of pyruvate or pyruvate analogs under acidic conditions, consequently indicating an absolute Fru(1,6)P 2 requirement for the enzyme activity. The replacement also induced a significant reduction in the pH-dependent sensitivity of the enzyme to Fru(1,6)P 2 , through a slight decrease and increase of the Fru(1,6)P 2 sensitivity under acidic and neutral conditions, respectively, indicating that His205 is also largely involved in the pH-dependent sensitivity of L.casei L-LDH to Fru(1,6)P 2 . The role of His205 in the allosteric regulation of the enzyme is discussed on the basis of the known crystal structures of L-LDHs.

An absolute requirement of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate for the Lactobacillus casei L-lactate dehydrogenase activity induced by a single amino acid substitution.

Mariko Ishiyama

Papers

An absolute requirement of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate for the Lactobacillus casei L-lactate dehydrogenase activity induced by a single amino acid substitution.