Sorbitol utilization by Pediococcus parvulus 2.6

ADRIÁN PEREZ RAMOS; MARÍA LAURA WERNING,; MARI LUZ MOHEDANO; GIUSEPPE SPANO; PALOMA LÓPEZ

Egmond aan Zee

Simposio; XI Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria; 2014

Pediococcus parvulus 2.6R isolated from cider secretes a 2-substituted (1,3)-β-D-glucan exopolysaccharide (β-glucan) (1) synthetized by the GTF glycosyltransferase using UDP-glucose as substrate (2, 3). The enzyme is encoded by the gtf gene located in the pPP2 plasmid (1, 2) and by curing this plasmid we generated P. parvulus 2.6NR unable to produce β-glucan (1). The potential of P. parvulus 2.6R as a probiotic strain has been previously established (4), it is able to immunomodulate macrophages and production of the β-glucan confers to the bacterium higher resistance to gastrointestinal and technological stresses. In addition, the presence of the β-glucan increases the bacterial adherence to Caco-2 cells.In this work, the ability of this bacterium to utilize sorbitol has been detected, its genetic determinants identified and its interplay with the 2-substituted (1,3)-β-D-glucan synthesis investigated.