Lactobacillus plantarum

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Lactobacillus plantarum
Scientific classification
Domain: Bacteria Phylum: Firmicutes Class: Bacilli Order: Lactobacillales Family: Lactobacillaceae Genus: Lactobacillus Species: plantarum
Binomial name
Lactobacillus plantarum Photo Credit: Janice Carr (1982)

Genome structure

In 2003, Michiel Kleerebezem mapped out the complete genome of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1. Lactobacillus plantarum strain WCFS1 is known to have 3,308,274 base pairs and contains 3,052 protein-encoding genes as well as three plasmids (1,917-bp, 2,365-bp, and 36,069-bp,) which accounts for its high adaptability. The G+C content of the chromosome is 44.5%, but the plasmids contain slightly less G+C content. 1

Cell structure and metabolism

Lactobacillus plantarum is a gram positive, rod-shaped, organotrophic, bacteria often called lactic acid bacteria because it gets most of its energy from converting glucose to lactate via homolactic and heterolactic fermentation. Homolactic fermentation uses the EMP pathway and heterolactic fermentation uses the phosphoketolase pathway. Therefore, L. plantarum is a facultative heterofermentative lactobacilli. 2 1

Ecology

Lactobacillus plantarum is a highly adaptive bacteria that can survive at temperatures between 10º to 60º Celsius. L. plantarum is found in fermented foods including yogurt, cheese, and kim chee and is also found in animal GI tracts and saliva. 3 4 1

Pathology

Lactobacillus plantarum is actually considered to be a probiotic. Due to its ability to survive in the human GI tract for >6 days, L. plantarum can inhibit the growth of other harmful bacteria such as E. coli in the host after contaminated meat consumption. L. plantarum is found in various fermented foods such as yogurt, cheese, kim chee, and is recommended to be consumed regularly to support the immune system. In addition, the ability of L. plantarum to produce lactic acid helps maintain healthy, low pH levels of the GI tract. 1 3 4

References

1. Michiel Kleerebezem, Jos Boekhorst, Richard van Kranenburg, Douwe Molenaar, Oscar P. Kuipers, Rob Leer, Renato Tarchini, Sander A. Peters, Hans M. Sandbrink, Mark W. E. J. Fiers, Willem Stiekema, René M. Klein Lankhorst, Peter A. Bron, Sally M. Hoffer, Masja N. Nierop Groot, Robert Kerkhoven, Maaike de Vries, Björn Ursing, Willem M. de Vos*, and Roland J. Siezen. (2003). Complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100 (4), 1990-1995.
2. http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Lactobacillus
3. http://www.ebi.ac.uk/2can/genomes/bacteria/Lactobacillus_plantarum.html
4. http://lwicker.myweb.uga.edu/kimchee.htm