META-ANALYSIS OF LACTIC ACID BACTERIAL GENOMES: FOLATE BIOSYNTHESIS GENES

LEBLANC JG; SAVOY DE GIORI G; SESMA F

Tafí del Valle, Tucumán

Congreso; XXIV ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING; 2008

Sociedad Biología de Tucuman

Folates participate in numerous metabolic reactions and their defi-ciency can cause many physiological disorders. Folic acid, a syn-thetic chemical commonly used in food fortification programs, canmask vitamin B12 deficiencies and overdoses can cause spontane-ous abortions whereas “natural” folates, such as those produces bybacteria, do not.The objective of this work was to analyse the genomes of LAB toidentify strains that have the capability to produce de novo folates.Some strains of Lc. lactis, Lb. plantarum, Lb. bulgaricus and St.thermophilus posses all the folate biosynthesis genes whereas Lb.gasseri, Lb. salivarius, Lb. acidophilus and Lb. johnsonii do not.However, preliminary results in our lab have shown that folate pro-duction is a strain dependant trait.These results will help in the search for novel LAB strains that canproduce folates as a first step in the development of novel fermentedfoods with increased “natural” folate levels.