Reconstruction of the glutamate decarboxylase system in Lactococcus lactis for biosynthesis of food-grade γ-aminobutyric acid

Nutrient consumption patterns of Lactobacillus acidophilus

BACKGROUND

One of the greatest challenges in using Lactobacillus acidophilus as a probiotic is acid stress. The current research aimed to identify substances that help L. acidophilus resist acid stress; this was achieved through assessing its nutrient consumption patterns under various pH conditions.

RESULTS

The consumption rates of alanine, uracil, adenine, guanine, niacin, and manganese were consistently higher than 60% for L. acidophilus LA-5 cultured at pH 5.8, 4.9, and 4.4. The consumption rates of glutamic acid + glutamine and thiamine increased with decreasing pH and were higher than 60% at pH 4.9 and 4.4. The viable counts of L. acidophilus LA-5 were significantly increased under the corresponding acidic stress conditions (pH 4.9 and 4.4) through the appropriate addition of either alanine (3.37 and 2.81 mmol L-1), glutamic acid + glutamine (4.77 mmol L-1), guanine (0.13 and 0.17 mmol L-1), niacin (0.02 mmol L-1), thiamine (0.009 mmol L-1), or manganese (0.73 and 0.64 mmol L-1) (P < 0.05). The viable counts of L. acidophilus LA-5 cultured in a medium supplemented with combined nutritional factors was 1.02-1.03-fold of the counts observed in control medium under all acid conditions (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Alanine, glutamic acid + glutamine, guanine, niacin, thiamine, and manganese can improve the growth of L. acidophilus LA-5 in an acidic environment in the present study. The results will contribute to optimizing strategies to enhance the acid resistance of L. acidophilus and expand its application in the fermentation industry. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Contributions of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) Produced by Lactic Acid Bacteria on Food Quality and Human Health: Current Applications and Future Prospects

The need to increase food safety and improve human health has led to a worldwide increase in interest in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), produced by lactic acid bacteria (LABs). GABA, produced from glutamic acid in a reaction catalyzed by glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), is a four-carbon, non-protein amino acid that is increasingly used in the food industry to improve the safety/quality of foods. In addition to the possible positive effects of GABA, called a postbiotic, on neuroprotection, improving sleep quality, alleviating depression and relieving pain, the various health benefits of GABA-enriched foods such as antidiabetic, antihypertension, and anti-inflammatory effects are also being investigated. For all these reasons, it is not surprising that efforts to identify LAB strains with a high GABA productivity and to increase GABA production from LABs through genetic engineering to increase GABA yield are accelerating. However, GABA's contributions to food safety/quality and human health have not yet been fully discussed in the literature. Therefore, this current review highlights the synthesis and food applications of GABA produced from LABs, discusses its health benefits such as, for example, alleviating drug withdrawal syndromes and regulating obesity and overeating. Still, other potential food and drug interactions (among others) remain unanswered questions to be elucidated in the future. Hence, this review paves the way toward further studies.

Expression and Transformation Characteristics of a Novel Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase LcGAD10s and Its Application on Sufu Processing

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an important non-proteinogenic amino acid and a potent bioactive compound with many anti-hypertensive and anti-depressant activities. The bioconversion of GABA by glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) has been eagerly studied. Herein, novel pyridoxal-5-phosphate monohydrates (PLP)-dependent GAD, which is not quite similar to reporting, was cloned from Latilactobacillus curvatus and efficiently expressed in E. coli. The conveniently purified GAD (designated LcGAD10s) appeared as a single protein on SDS-PAGE with a molecular mass of 52.0 kDa. LcGAD10s exhibited a specific activity of 303.7 U/mg after purification by Ni-IDA affinity chromatography, with optimal activity at 55 °C and pH 5. LcGAD10s displayed excellent temperature (50 °C) and pH (4-8) stability which relative activity above 80% and 70%, respectively. The enzymatic activity was, respectively, increased and depressed by 130%, and 24% in the presence of Mn+ and Cu2+. Enzyme activity over 90% can be achieved by adding at least 25 mM of PLP. LcGAD10s was able to efficiently transform 15 g/L GABA with a single-factor optimized reaction of pH (5), temperature (50 °C), time (2 h), LcGAD10s dosage (0.4 U) and monosodium glutamate level (5 g/L). Additionally, LcGAD10s can be applied to a tofu fermentation system to achieve GABA conversion and achieved 14.9 mg/g of GABA conversion when added at 2 U/mL, which is higher than most of the commercial sufu and previous application reports, increasing its functional substances.

Sodium-Ion-Free Fermentative Production of GABA with Levilactobacillus brevis CD0817

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has positive effects on many physiological processes. Lactic acid bacterial production of GABA is a future trend. This study aimed to produce a sodium-ion-free GABA fermentation process for Levilactobacillus brevis CD0817. In this fermentation, both the seed and fermentation media used L-glutamic acid instead of monosodium L-glutamate as the substrate. We optimized the key factors influencing GABA formation, adopting Erlenmeyer flask fermentation. The optimized values of the key factors of glucose, yeast extract, Tween 80, manganese ion, and fermentation temperature were 10 g/L, 35 g/L, 1.5 g/L, 0.2 mM, and 30 °C, respectively. Based on the optimized data, a sodium-ion-free GABA fermentation process was developed using a 10-L fermenter. During the fermentation, L-glutamic acid powder was continuously dissolved to supply substrate and to provide the acidic environment essential for GABA synthesis. The current bioprocess accumulated GABA at up to 331 ± 8.3 g/L after 48 h. The productivity of GABA was 6.9 g/L/h and the molar conversion rate of the substrate was 98.1%. These findings demonstrate that the proposed method is promising in the fermentative preparation of GABA by lactic acid bacteria.

Molecular evolution and population genetics of glutamate decarboxylase acid resistance pathway in lactic acid bacteria

Glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) pathway (GDP) is a major acid resistance mechanism enabling microorganisms' survival in low pH environments. We aimed to study the molecular evolution and population genetics of GDP in Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) to understand evolutionary processes shaping adaptation to acidic environments comparing species where the GDP genes are organized in an operon structure (Levilactobacillus brevis) versus lack of an operon structure (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum). Within species molecular population genetic analyses of GDP genes in L. brevis and L. plantarum sampled from diverse fermented food and other environments showed abundant synonymous and non-synonymous nucleotide diversity, mostly driven by low frequency changes, distributed throughout the coding regions for all genes in both species. GAD genes showed higher level of replacement polymorphism compared to transporter genes (gadC and YjeM) for both species, and GAD genes that are outside of an operon structure showed even higher level of replacement polymorphism. Population genetic tests suggest negative selection against replacement changes in all genes. Molecular structure and amino acid characteristics analyses showed that in none of the GDP genes replacement changes alter 3D structure or charge distribution supporting negative selection against non-conservative amino acid changes. Phylogenetic and between species divergence analyses suggested adaptive protein evolution on GDP genes comparing phylogenetically distant species, but conservative evolution comparing closely related species. GDP genes within an operon structure showed slower molecular evolution and higher conservation. All GAD and transporter genes showed high codon usage bias in examined LAB species suggesting high expression and utilization of acid resistance genes. Substantial discordances between species, GAD, and transporter gene tree topologies were observed suggesting molecular evolution of GDP genes do not follow speciation events. Distribution of operon structure on the species tree suggested multiple independent gain or loss of operon structure in LABs. In conclusion, GDP genes in LABs exhibit a dynamic molecular evolutionary history shaped by gene loss, gene transfer, negative and positive selection to maintain its active role in acid resistance mechanism, and enable organisms to thrive in acidic environments.

pH Auto-Sustain-Based Fermentation Supports Efficient Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Production by Lactobacillus brevis CD0817

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) plays a role in several physiological functions. GABA production by lactic acid bacteria has attracted considerable interest; however, there is need to improve production. This study aimed to develop a pH auto-sustain (PAS)-based GABA fermentation process for Lactobacillus brevis CD0817, with L-glutamic acid (solubility ~6.0 g/L and isoelectric point 3.22) as the substrate. Firstly, we determined the optimum levels of vital factors affecting GABA synthesis using Erlenmeyer flask experiments. The results showed that optimal levels of sugar, yeast extract, Tween-80, manganese ion, and temperature were 5.0 g/L, 35.0 g/L, 1.0 g/L, 16.0 mg/L, and 30.0 °C, respectively. The added L-glutamic acid (650 g per liter of medium) mostly existed in the form of solid powder was slowly released to supply the substrate and acidity essential for GABA production with the progress of fermentation. Based on the optimizations, the PAS-based GABA fermentation was performed using a 10 L fermenter. The PAS-based strategy promoted GABA synthesis by the strain of up to 321.9 ± 6.7 g/L after 48 h, with a productivity of 6.71 g/L/h and a substrate molar conversion rate of 99.6%. The findings suggest that the PAS-based fermentation is a promising method for GABA production by lactic acid bacteria.

Expression, purification, and characterization of glutamate decarboxylase from human gut-originated Lactococcus garvieae MJF010

Human gut-originated lactic acid bacteria were cultivated, and high γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-producing Lactococcus garvieae MJF010 was identified. To date, despite the importance of GABA, no studies have investigated GABA-producing Lactococcus species, except for Lc. lactis. A recombinant glutamate decarboxylase of the strain MJF010 (rLgGad) was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) with a size of 53.9 kDa. rLgGad could produce GABA, which was verified using the silylation-derivative fragment ions of GABA. The purified rLgGad showed the highest GABA-producing activity at 35 °C and pH 5. rLgGad showed a melting temperature of 43.84 °C. At 30 °C, more than 80% of the activity was maintained even after 7 h; however, it rapidly decreased at 50 °C. The kinetic parameters, K_m, V_max, and k_cat, of rLgGad were 2.94 mM, 0.023 mM/min, and 12.3 min^- 1, respectively. The metal reagents of CaCl₂, MgCl₂, and ZnCl₂ significantly had positive effects on rLgGad activity. However, most coenzymes including pyridoxal 5'-phosphate showed no significant effects on enzyme activity. In conclusion, this is the first report of Gad from Lc. garvieae species and provides important enzymatic information related to GABA biosynthesis in the Lactococcus genus.