Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2001, p. 3976-3984, Vol. 67, No. 9
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.9.3976-3984.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Research Group of Industrial Microbiology, Fermentation Technology and Downstream Processing (IMDO), Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium,1 and School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, HD1 3DH Huddersfield, United Kingdom2
Received 16 February 2001/Accepted 15 June 2001
The monomer composition of the exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by
Streptococcus thermophilus LY03 and S.
thermophilus Sfi20 were evaluated by high-pressure liquid
chromatography with amperometric detection and nuclear magnetic
resonance spectroscopy. Both strains produced the same EPS composed of
galactose, glucose, and N-acetylgalactosamine. Further,
it was demonstrated that the activity of the precursor-producing enzyme
UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 4-epimerase, converting
UDP-N-acetylglucosamine into
UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine, is responsible for the
presence of N-acetylgalactosamine in the EPS repeating
units of both strains. The activity of
UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 4-epimerase was higher in both
S. thermophilus strains than in a non-EPS-producing
control strain. However, the level of this activity was not correlated with EPS yields, a result independent of the carbohydrate source applied in the fermentation process. On the other hand, both the amounts of EPS and the carbohydrate consumption rates were influenced by the type of carbohydrate source used during S.
thermophilus Sfi20 fermentations. A correlation between
activities of the enzymes
-phosphoglucomutase, UDP-glucose
pyrophosphorylase, and UDP-galactose 4-epimerase and EPS yields was
seen. These experiments confirm earlier observed results for S.
thermophilus LY03, although S. thermophilus
Sfi20 preferentially consumed glucose for EPS production instead of
lactose in contrast to the former strain.
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