Turning a new leaf in probiotic meat preservation
Nature Biotechnology pp 1527 - 1533
French scientists have sequenced a lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus sakei 23K, which helps suppress the bacteria that cause meat to spoil. The availability of the complete sequence of L. sakei, reported by Zagorec and colleagues in December's Nature Biotechnology, should permit further development and exploitation of the biopreservative potential of this bacterium.
Lactic acid bacteria are widely used in the meat industry as starter cultures for sausage fermentation. They contribute to flavor development and also inhibit the growth of competing bacteria that are found on meat, including spoilage bacteria and, occasionally, pathogens such as enterobacteria and Listeria species. Lactic acid bacteria achieve this probiotic effect by acidifying the environment, producing chemicals that kill microbes and competing for nutrients on the meat surface.
The 1,885-kilobase genome of L. sakei is thought to encode 1,883 proteins, a portion of which clearly sets it apart, metabolically speaking, from other known lactobacilli. Most of these proteins are presumed to help L. sakei outcompete other bacteria, for example, by forming a biofilm or by enduring harsh conditions during food processing.
