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. 2002 Nov;68(11):5452-8.
doi: 10.1128/AEM.68.11.5452-5458.2002.

Characterization of six Leuconostoc fallax bacteriophages isolated from an industrial sauerkraut fermentation

Rodolphe Barrangou  1 , Sung-Sik Yoon, Frederick Breidt Jr, Henry P Fleming, Todd R Klaenhammer
Affiliations

Characterization of six Leuconostoc fallax bacteriophages isolated from an industrial sauerkraut fermentation

Rodolphe Barrangou et al. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2002 Nov.

Abstract

Six bacteriophages active against Leuconostoc fallax strains were isolated from industrial sauerkraut fermentation brines. These phages were characterized as to host range, morphology, structural proteins, and genome fingerprint. They were exclusively lytic against the species L. fallax and had different host ranges among the strains of this species tested. Morphologically, three of the phages were assigned to the family Siphoviridae, and the three others were assigned to the family Myovidae: Major capsid proteins detected by electrophoresis were distinct for each of the two morphotypes. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA fingerprinting showed that all six phages were genetically distinct. These results revealed for the first time the existence of bacteriophages that are active against L. fallax and confirmed the presence and diversity of bacteriophages in a sauerkraut fermentation. Since a variety of L. fallax strains have been shown to be present in sauerkraut fermentation, bacteriophages active against L. fallax are likely to contribute to the microbial ecology of sauerkraut fermentation and could be responsible for some of the variability observed in this type of fermentation.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Electron micrographs of L. fallax bacteriophages. (A) φR01; (B) φR03; (C) φR05; (D) φR09; (E) φR12; (F) φR19. Bars = 100 nm.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
SDS-PAGE patterns of phage structural proteins. Lanes M, molecular weight markers; lane 1, Siphoviridae phage φR01; lane 2, Myoviridae phage φR03; lane 3, Siphoviridae phage φR09.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
RFLP analysis of phage DNA: EcoRI digestion patterns of Myoviridae bacteriophages. Lane M, 1-kb DNA ladder; lane 1, φR03; lane 2, φR05; lane 3, φR12.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
(A) RAPD fingerprinting of bacteriophage DNA with primer B. (B) RAPD fingerprinting of bacteriophage DNA with primer A. Lane 1, φR01; lane 2, φR03; lane 3, φR05; lane 4, φR09; lane 5, φR12; lane 6, φR19; lanes M, 100-bp DNA ladder.
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