Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2000, p. 1354-1359, Vol. 66, No. 4
Unité de Recherches de Biochimie et
Structure des Protéines INRA, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas Cedex,
France
Received 23 September 1999/Accepted 16 January 2000
The first step of amino acid degradation in lactococci is a
transamination, which requires an
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Expression of a Heterologous Glutamate Dehydrogenase Gene in
Lactococcus lactis Highly Improves the Conversion of
Amino Acids to Aroma Compounds
-keto acid as the amino group acceptor. We have previously shown that the level of available
-keto
acid in semihard cheese is the first limiting factor for conversion of
amino acids to aroma compounds, since aroma formation is greatly
enhanced by adding
-ketoglutarate to cheese curd. In this study we
introduced a heterologous catabolic glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) gene
into Lactococcus lactis so that this organism could produce
-ketoglutarate from glutamate, which is present at high levels in
cheese. Then we evaluated the impact of GDH activity on amino acid
conversion in in vitro tests and in a cheese model by using
radiolabeled amino acids as tracers. The GDH-producing lactococcal
strain degraded amino acids without added
-ketoglutarate to the same
extent that the wild-type strain degraded amino acids with added
-ketoglutarate. Interestingly, the GDH-producing lactococcal strain
produced a higher proportion of carboxylic acids, which are major aroma
compounds. Our results demonstrated that a GDH-producing lactococcal
strain could be used instead of adding
-ketoglutarate to improve
aroma development in cheese.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unite de
Recherches de Biochimie et Structure des Proteines INRA, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas Cedex, France. Phone: 33 1 34 65 21 59. Fax: 33 1 34 65 21 63. E-mail:
Mireille.Yvon{at}diamant.jouy.inra.fr.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»