Applied and Environmental Microbiology, January 2001, p. 231-238, Vol. 67, No. 1
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.1.231-238.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
INRA Laboratoire de Recherche de Technologie Laitière1 and INRA Laboratoire de Génétique Animale,2 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
Received 9 June 2000/Accepted 13 October 2000
Dairy propionic acid bacteria, particularly the species Propionibacterium freudenreichii, play a major role in the ripening of Swiss type cheese. Isometric and filamentous bacteriophages infecting P. freudenreichii have previously been isolated from cheese. In order to determine the origin of these bacteriophages, lysogeny of P. freudenreichii was determined by isometric bacteriophage type analysis. The genomic DNA of 76 strains were hybridized with the DNA of nine bacteriophages isolated from Swiss type cheeses, and the DNA of 25 strains exhibited strong hybridization. Three of these strains released bacteriophage particules following UV irradiation (254 nm) or treatment with low concentrations of mitomycin C. A prophage-cured derivative of P. freudenreichii was readily isolated and subsequently relysogenized. Lysogeny was therefore formally demonstrated in P. freudenreichii.
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