Sakacin

Sakacins are bacteriocins produced by "Lactobacillus sakei". They are often clustered with the other lactic acid bacteriocins.cite journal |author=Sablon E, Contreras B, Vandamme E |title=Antimicrobial peptides of lactic acid bacteria: mode of action, genetics and biosynthesis |journal=Adv. Biochem. Eng. Biotechnol. |volume=68 |issue= |pages=21–60 |year=2000 |pmid=11036685 |doi=] The best known sakacins are sakacin A, G, K, P, and Q. In particular, sakacin A and P have been well characterized.

akacins Individually

Sakacin Acite journal |author=Holck A, Axelsson L, Birkeland SE, Aukrust T, Blom H |title=Purification and amino acid sequence of sakacin A, a bacteriocin from Lactobacillus sake Lb706 |journal=J. Gen. Microbiol. |volume=138 |issue=12 |pages=2715–20 |year=1992 |pmid=1487735 |doi=] is a small, 41 amino acid (the precursor is 90 aa), heat-stable polypeptide. It has been characterized geneticallycite journal |author=Axelsson L, Holck A |title=The genes involved in production of and immunity to sakacin A, a bacteriocin from Lactobacillus sake Lb706 |journal=J. Bacteriol. |volume=177 |issue=8 |pages=2125–37 |year=1995 |pmid=7721704 |doi=] . The regulation of sakacin A has been shown to be related to pheromones (possibly quorum sensing) and temperature changescite journal |author=Diep DB, Axelsson L, Grefsli C, Nes IF |title=The synthesis of the bacteriocin sakacin A is a temperature-sensitive process regulated by a pheromone peptide through a three-component regulatory system |journal=Microbiology (Reading, Engl.) |volume=146 ( Pt 9) |issue= |pages=2155–60 |year=2000 |pmid=10974103 |doi=] . It is identical to curvacin/curvaticin A.

Sakacin B is a heat and pH stable proteincite journal |title=Sakacin B, a bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus sake isolated from Greek dry fermented sausages |author=Samelis J, Roller S, Metaxopoulos J |journal=Journal of applied bacteriology |year=1994 |volume=76 |issue=5 |pages=475–486] .

Sakacin G is a 37 amino acid long (small) polypeptidecite journal |author=Simon L, Fremaux C, Cenatiempo Y, Berjeaud JM |title=Sakacin g, a new type of antilisterial bacteriocin |journal=Appl. Environ. Microbiol. |volume=68 |issue=12 |pages=6416–20 |year=2002 |pmid=12450870 |doi=] .

Sakacin K is closely related to Sakacin A (and curvacin A), sharing the first 30 N-terminal amino acids [cite journal |author=Aymerich MT, Garriga M, Monfort JM, Nes I, Hugas M |year=2000 |volume=17 |issue=1 | pages=33–45 |title=Bacteriocin-producing lactobacilli in Spanish-style fermented sausages : characterization of bacteriocins |journal=Food Microbiology |doi=10.1006/fmic.1999.0275] . It has been studied extensively for its industrial applicationscite journal |author=Leroy F, de Vuyst L |title=Temperature and pH conditions that prevail during fermentation of sausages are optimal for production of the antilisterial bacteriocin sakacin K |journal=Appl. Environ. Microbiol. |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=974–81 |year=1999 |pmid=10049850 |doi=] cite journal |author=Leroy F, de Vuyst L |title=The presence of salt and a curing agent reduces bacteriocin production by Lactobacillus sakei CTC 494, a potential starter culture for sausage fermentation |journal=Appl. Environ. Microbiol. |volume=65 |issue=12 |pages=5350–6 |year=1999 |pmid=10583988 |doi=] cite journal |author=Leroy F, Degeest B, De VL |title=A novel area of predictive modelling: describing the functionality of beneficial microorganisms in foods |journal=Int. J. Food Microbiol. |volume=73 |issue=2-3 |pages=251–9 |year=2002 |pmid=11934033 |doi=] .

Sakacin M is a heat resistant protein, MW = 4640 cite journal |author=Sobrino OJ, Rodríguez JM, Moreira WL, Cintas LM, Fernández MF, Sanz B, Hernández PE |title=Sakacin M, a bacteriocin-like substance from Lactobacillus sake 148 |journal=Int. J. Food Microbiol. |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=215–25 |year=1992 |pmid=1445768 |doi=] .

Sakacin P is a small, heat-stable, ribosomally synthesized polypeptide. Its genetics has been well-characterizedcite journal |author=Hühne K, Axelsson L, Holck A, Kröckel L |title=Analysis of the sakacin P gene cluster from Lactobacillus sake Lb674 and its expression in sakacin-negative Lb. sake strains |journal=Microbiology (Reading, Engl.) |volume=142 ( Pt 6) |issue= |pages=1437–48 |year=1996 |pmid=8704983 |doi=] cite journal |author=Tichaczek PS, Vogel RF, Hammes WP |title=Cloning and sequencing of sakP encoding sakacin P, the bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus sake LTH 673 |journal=Microbiology (Reading, Engl.) |volume=140 ( Pt 2) |issue= |pages=361–7 |year=1994 |pmid=8180701 |doi=] .

Sakacin Q was discovered in a strain producing Sakacin P cite journal |author=Mathiesen G, Huehne K, Kroeckel L, Axelsson L, Eijsink VG |title=Characterization of a new bacteriocin operon in sakacin P-producing Lactobacillus sakei, showing strong translational coupling between the bacteriocin and immunity genes |journal=Appl. Environ. Microbiol. |volume=71 |issue=7 |pages=3565–74 |year=2005 |pmid=16000763 |doi=10.1128/AEM.71.7.3565-3574.2005] .

Sakacin R is very similar to sakacin P cite journal |author=Holck AL, Axelsson L, Hühne K, Kröckel L |title=Purification and cloning of sakacin 674, a bacteriocin from Lactobacillus sake Lb674 |journal=FEMS Microbiol. Lett. |volume=115 |issue=2-3 |pages=143–9 |year=1994 |pmid=8138128 |doi=] . It is 43 amino acids long, and is also known as sakacin 674.

Sakacin T is a class II bacteriocin. It is produced from a single operon with sakacin X; there are three distinct promoters in the operon, the two sakacins are chemically distinct, though similar cite journal |author=Vaughan A, O' Mahony J, Eijsink VG, O' Connell-Motherway M, van Sinderen D |title=Transcriptional analysis of bacteriocin production by malt isolate Lactobacillus sakei 5 |journal=FEMS Microbiol. Lett. |volume=235 |issue=2 |pages=377–84 |year=2004 |pmid=15183888 |doi=10.1016/j.femsle.2004.05.011] cite journal |author=Vaughan A, Eijsink VG, Van Sinderen D |title=Functional characterization of a composite bacteriocin locus from malt isolate Lactobacillus sakei 5 |journal=Appl. Environ. Microbiol. |volume=69 |issue=12 |pages=7194–203 |year=2003 |pmid=14660366 |doi=] . Sakacin T

Sakacin X is a class IIa bacteriocin. It appears in the references with Sakacin T (above).

Sakacin Z was apparently never published and is known from a reference to unpublished data (refers to B. Ray, under Table 6, page 551) [cite book |title=Natural Food Antimicrobial Systems |chapter=Pediocin |editor= Naidu AS |author=Ray B, Miller KW |year=2000 |ISBN=084932047X |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton, Florida]

It seems that the sakacin namers have a convention problem. Sakacin Z was named because it is produced by "L. sakei" Z, just as Sakacin 670 was named because it was produced by "L. sakei" 670; but the remaining naming convention uses letters A-Z, of which few are unambiguously available. Worse yet, many strains produce several sakacins cite journal |author=Héquet A, Laffitte V, Simon L, De Sousa-Caetano D, Thomas C, Fremaux C, Berjeaud JM |title=Characterization of new bacteriocinogenic lactic acid bacteria isolated using a medium designed to simulate inhibition of Listeria by Lactobacillus sakei 2512 on meat |journal=Int. J. Food Microbiol. |volume=113 |issue=1 |pages=67–74 |year=2007 |pmid=16997410 |doi=10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2006.07.016] so that naming them by strain is ambiguous.

Applications of the Sakacins

Many of the sakacins have been tested for industrial applicationscite journal |author=Aasen IM, Markussen S, Møretrø T, Katla T, Axelsson L, Naterstad K |title=Interactions of the bacteriocins sakacin P and nisin with food constituents |journal=Int. J. Food Microbiol. |volume=87 |issue=1-2 |pages=35–43 |year=2003 |pmid=12927705 |doi=] and inserted into other lactic acid bacteriacite journal |author=Cocolin L, Rantsiou K |title=Sequencing and expression analysis of sakacin genes in Lactobacillus curvatus strains |journal=Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. |volume=76 |issue=6 |pages=1403–11 |year=2007 |pmid=17690878 |doi=10.1007/s00253-007-1120-8] . Some have been engineered for production in food environments as well. Many were actually discovered in food contexts, like Greek dry cured sausage (sakacin B). In modern food chemistry, the sakacins have been studied for their use against "Listeria" in the production of sausages (like Portuguese lingüiça) and cured meat products (such as hamcite journal |author=Jofré A, Garriga M, Aymerich T |title=Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes in cooked ham through active packaging with natural antimicrobials and high-pressure processing |journal=J. Food Prot. |volume=70 |issue=11 |pages=2498–502 |year=2007 |pmid=18044426 |doi=] and cold cutscite journal |author=Katla T, Møretrø T, Sveen I, Aasen IM, Axelsson L, Rørvik LM, Naterstad K |title=Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes in chicken cold cuts by addition of sakacin P and sakacin P-producing Lactobacillus sakei |journal=J. Appl. Microbiol. |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=191–6 |year=2002 |pmid=12147066 |doi=] ), cheeses, and other lactic acid fermented products. They are also used to repress unwanted bacterial growth that might cause ropiness, sliminess, malodor and other product defects.

References