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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2008, p. 811-817, Vol. 74, No. 3
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01496-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

High Frequency of Histamine-Producing Bacteria in the Enological Environment and Instability of the Histidine Decarboxylase Production Phenotype{triangledown}

Patrick M. Lucas,* Olivier Claisse, and Aline Lonvaud-Funel

UMR 1219, INRA-Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Talence, France

Received 4 July 2007/ Accepted 23 November 2007

Lactic acid bacteria contribute to wine transformation during malolactic fermentation. They generally improve the sensorial properties of wine, but some strains produce histamine, a toxic substance that causes health issues. Histamine-producing strains belong to species of the genera Oenococcus, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. All carry an hdcA gene coding for a histidine decarboxylase that converts histidine into histamine. For this study, a method based on quantitative PCR and targeting hdcA was developed to enumerate these bacteria in wine. This method was efficient for determining populations of 1 to 107 CFU per ml. An analysis of 264 samples collected from 116 wineries of the same region during malolactic fermentation revealed that these bacteria were present in almost all wines and at important levels, exceeding 103 CFU per ml in 70% of the samples. Histamine occurred at an often important level in wines containing populations of the above-mentioned bacteria. Fifty-four colonies of histamine producers isolated from four wines were characterized at the genetic level. All were strains of Oenococcus oeni that grouped into eight strain types by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis. Some strains were isolated from wines collected in distant wineries. Moreover, hdcA was detected on a large and possibly unstable plasmid in these strains of O. oeni. Taken together, the results suggest that the risk of histamine production exists in almost all wines and is important when the population of histamine-producing bacteria exceeds 103 per ml. Strains of O. oeni producing histamine are frequent in wine during malolactic fermentation, but they may lose this capacity during subcultures in the laboratory.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, 351, cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence, France. Phone: 33 5 4000 6654. Fax: 33 5 4000 6468. E-mail: patrick.lucas{at}oenologie.u-bordeaux2.fr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 7 December 2007.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2008, p. 811-817, Vol. 74, No. 3
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01496-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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