Staphylococcus aureus virulence expression is impaired by Lactococcus lactis in mixed cultures

Prolonged expression and production of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A in processed pork meat

The bacteriophage-encoded staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) is the toxin most frequently reported to be involved in staphylococcal food poisoning. In this study, sea expression and SEA formation were studied in four processed pork products: boiled ham, hot-smoked ham, Serrano ham (dry-cured Spanish ham) and black pepper salami. The products were selected because of their differences in intrinsic factors. As a reference, Staphylococcus aureus was cultivated under favorable planktonic growth conditions. Expression was mainly linked to bacterial growth for both meat products and broth cultures. In liquid broth, however, the relative level of sea mRNA peaked in the late exponential phase and then rapidly declined, while in the meat products allowing immediate growth, i.e. boiled and smoked ham, active sea expression occurred throughout the incubation period of seven days. Lower levels of sea mRNA and SEA were found in smoked ham compared to boiled ham, although viable counts of S. aureus on the two products were similar. Furthermore, the SEA concentration in the boiled ham reached a maximum after three days of incubation and then unpredictably decreased. In the Serrano ham, no increase in cell number was observed until day seven, and sea expression and extracellular SEA could only be detected on days five and seven. Finally, the black pepper salami with low pH and competing microbiota proved to be a difficult environment for the survival of S. aureus. The molecular mechanism behind the behaviour of S. aureus SEA expression is discussed in connection to the life-cycle of the SEA-encoding bacteriophage and the microbial communities in these pork products.

Tool for quantification of staphylococcal enterotoxin gene expression in cheese

Cheese is a complex and dynamic microbial ecosystem characterized by the presence of a large variety of bacteria, yeasts, and molds. Some microorganisms, including species of lactobacilli or lactococci, are known to contribute to the organoleptic quality of cheeses, whereas the presence of other microorganisms may lead to spoilage or constitute a health risk. Staphylococcus aureus is recognized worldwide as an important food-borne pathogen, owing to the production of enterotoxins in food matrices. In order to study enterotoxin gene expression during cheese manufacture, we developed an efficient procedure to recover total RNA from cheese and applied a robust strategy to study gene expression by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). This method yielded pure preparations of undegraded RNA suitable for RT-qPCR. To normalize RT-qPCR data, expression of 10 potential reference genes was investigated during S. aureus growth in milk and in cheese. The three most stably expressed reference genes during cheese manufacture were ftsZ, pta, and gyrB, and these were used as internal controls for RT-qPCR of the genes sea and sed, encoding staphylococcal enterotoxins A and D, respectively. Expression of these staphylococcal enterotoxin genes was monitored during the first 72 h of the cheese-making process, and mRNA data were correlated with enterotoxin production.

Transcriptomic response of Lactococcus lactis in mixed culture with Staphylococcus aureus

The mechanisms of interaction between Lactococcus lactis and the food pathogen Staphylococcus aureus are of crucial importance, as one major role of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in fermented foods is to inhibit undesirable and pathogenic flora. It was never questioned if the presence of a pathogen can actively modify the gene expression patterns of LAB in a shared environment. In this study, transcriptome and biochemical analyses were combined to assess the dynamic response of L. lactis in a mixed culture with S. aureus. The presence of S. aureus hardly affected the growth of L. lactis but dramatically modified its gene expression profile. The main effect was related to earlier carbon limitation and a concomitantly lower growth rate in the mixed culture due to the consumption of glucose by both species. More specific responses involved diverse cellular functions. Genes associated with amino acid metabolism, ion transport, oxygen response, menaquinone metabolism, and cell surface and phage expression were differentially expressed in the mixed culture. This study led to new insights into possible mechanisms of interaction between L. lactis and S. aureus. Moreover, new and unexpected effects of L. lactis on the virulence of S. aureus were discovered, as described elsewhere (S. Even, C. Charlier, S. Nouaille, N. L. Ben Zakour, M. Cretenet, F. J. Cousin, M. Gautier, M. Cocaign-Bousquet, P. Loubière, and Y. Le Loir, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75:4459-4472, 2009).