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Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.01870-06
Copyright (c) 2006, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Expression of plant flavor genes in Lactococcus lactis

NIZO Food Research. P.O. Box 20, 6710 BA. Ede, The Netherlands; Plant Research International. P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: Johan.van.Hylckama.Vlieg{at}nizo.nl.

	Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria, such as Lactococcus lactis, are attractive hosts for the production of plant-bioactive compounds because of their food-grade status, efficient expression and metabolic engineering tools. Two genes from strawberry, encoding an alcohol acyltransferase (SAAT) and a linalool/nerolidol synthase (FaNES), were cloned in L. lactis and actively expressed using the nisin-induced expression system (NICE). The specific activity of SAAT could be improved three-fold (up to 564 pmol octyl acetate h^-1 mg prot^-1) by increasing the concentration of tRNA₁^Arg, which is a rare tRNA molecule in L. lactis. Fermentation tests in GM17 medium and in milk with recombinant L. lactis strains expressing SAAT or FaNES, resulted in the production of octyl acetate (1.9 µM) and linalool (85 nM) to levels above their odor thresholds in water. The results illustrate the potential of the application of L. lactis as a food-grade expression platform for the recombinant production of proteins and bio-active compounds from plants.