Purification and partial amino acid sequence of plantaricin S, a bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus plantarum LPCO10, the activity of which depends on the complementary action of two peptides

Abstract

Plantaricin S, one of the two bacteriocins produced by Lactobacillus plantarum LPCO10, which was isolated from a green-olive fermentation (R. Jimenez-Diaz, R. M. Rios-Sanchez, M. Desmazeaud, J. L. Ruiz-Barba, and J.-C. Piard, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 59:1416-1424, 1993), has been purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate precipitation, by binding to SP-Sepharose fast-flow, phenyl-Sepharose CL-4B, and C2/C18 reverse-phase chromatographies. The purification resulted in a final yield of 91.6% and a 352,617-fold increase in the specific activity. The bacteriocin activity was associated with two distinct peptides, termed α and β, which were separated by C2/C18 reverse-phase chromatography. Although β alone appeared to retain a trace of inhibitory activity, the complementary action of both the α and β peptides was required for full bacteriocin activity, as judged by both the agar well diffusion and the microtiter plate assays. From the N- terminal end, 26 and 24 amino acids residues of α and β, respectively, were sequenced. Further attempts at sequencing revealed no additional amino acids residues, suggesting that either modifications in the next amino acid residue blocked the sequencing region or that the C-terminal end had been reached. The amino acid sequences of α and β show no apparent homology to each other or to other bacteriocins purified from lactic acid bacteria.