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Transcriptome analysis of probiotic Lactobacillus casei Zhang during fermentation in soymilk

  • Original Paper
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Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Lactobacillus casei Zhang is a widely recognized probiotic bacterium, which is being commercially used in China. To study the gene expression dynamics of L. casei Zhang during fermentation in soymilk, a whole genome microarray was used to screen for differentially expressed genes when grown to the lag phase, the late logarithmic phase, and the stationary phase. Comparisons of different transcripts next to each other revealed 162 and 63 significantly induced genes in the late logarithmic phase and stationary phase, of which the expression was at least threefold up-regulated and down-regulated, respectively. Approximately 38.4% of the up-regulated genes were associated with amino acid transport and metabolism notably for histidine and lysine biosynthesis, followed by genes/gene clusters involved in carbohydrate transport and metabolism, lipid transport and metabolism, and inorganic ion transport and metabolism. The analysis results suggest a complex stimulatory effect of soymilk-based ecosystem on the L. casei Zhang growth. On the other hand, it provides the very first insight into the molecular mechanism of L. casei strain for how it will adapt to the protein-rich environment.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30860219), the Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (Grant No. 2010AA10Z302), the earmarked fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (Grant No. nycytx-0501), and the Innovation Research Team Development Program of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. IRT0967). We would like to thank Eric Richard Spaans for the English editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Food Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, 010018, Huhhot, China

    Ji-Cheng Wang, Wen-Yi Zhang, Zhi Zhong, Ai-Bin Wei, Qiu-Hua Bao, Yong Zhang, Tian-Song Sun, Andrew Postnikoff & He-Ping Zhang

  2. School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, Shanghai, China

    He Meng

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  1. Ji-Cheng Wang
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  2. Wen-Yi Zhang
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  3. Zhi Zhong
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Correspondence to He Meng or He-Ping Zhang.

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Ji-Cheng Wang and Wen-Yi Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Wang, JC., Zhang, WY., Zhong, Z. et al. Transcriptome analysis of probiotic Lactobacillus casei Zhang during fermentation in soymilk. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 39, 191–206 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-011-1015-7

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