Catherine Béal

Acid adaptation of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus induces physiological responses at membrane and cytosolic levels that improves cryotolerance

Aims:  This work aimed at clarifying the physiological responses of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus CFL1 cells after exposure to acidification at the end of fermentation, in relation to their cryotolerance.

Fermentation pH Influences the Physiological-State Dynamics of Lactobacillus bulgaricus CFL1 during pH-Controlled Culture

ABSTRACT This study aims at better understanding the effects of fermentation pH and harvesting time on Lactobacillus bulgaricus CFL1 cellular state in order to improve knowledge of the dynamics of the physiological state and to better manage starter production. The Cinac system and multiparametric flow cytometry were used to characterize and compare the progress of the physiological events that occurred during pH 6 and pH 5 controlled cultures. Acidification activity, membrane damage, enzymatic activity, cellular depolarization, intracellular pH, and pH gradient were determined and compared during growing conditions. Strong differences in the time course of viability, membrane integrity, and acidification activity were displayed between pH 6 and pH 5 cultures. As a main result, the pH 5 control during fermentation allowed the cells to maintain a more robust physiological state, with high viability and stable acidification activity throughout growth, in opposition to a viability decrease and fluctuation of activity at pH 6. This result was mainly explained by differences in lactate concentration in the culture medium and in pH gradient value. The elevated content of the ionic lactate form at high pH values damaged membrane integrity that led to a viability decrease. In contrast, the high pH gradient observed throughout pH 5 cultures was associated with an increased energetic level that helped the cells maintain their physiological state. Such results may benefit industrial starter producers and fermented-product manufacturers by allowing them to better control the quality of their starters, before freezing or before using them for food fermentation.

Starvation induces physiological changes that act on the cryotolerance of Lactobacillus acidophilus RD758

The relationship between lactose starvation and cryotolerance was investigated in Lactobacillus acidophilus RD758. Cryotolerance was measured from the acidification activity of cells recovered after 18‐h lactose starvation. It was compared to that of nonstarved cells, both of them in a stationary phase and in the same medium. This measurement allowed quantifying the initial acidification activity before freezing, as well as the loss of acidification activity during freezing and the rate of loss during frozen storage. Even if initial acidification activity was similar for nonstarved and starved bacteria, the latter displayed a significantly better resistance to freezing and frozen storage at −20°C. To investigate the mechanisms that triggered these cryotolerance phenomena, the membrane fatty acid composition was determined by gas chromatography, and the proteome was established by 2‐D electrophoresis, for starved and nonstarved cells. The main outcome was that the improved cryotolerance of starved cells was ascribed to two types of physiological responses as a result of starvation. The first one corresponded to an increased synthesis of unsaturated, cyclic, and branched fatty acids, to the detriment of saturated fatty acids, thus corresponding to enhanced membrane fluidity. The second response concerned the upregulation of proteins involved in carbohydrate and energy metabolisms and in pH homeostasis, allowing the cells to be better prepared for counteracting the stress they encountered during subsequent cold stress. These two phenomena led to a cross‐protection phenomenon, which allowed better cryotolerance of Lb. acidophilus RD758, following cellular adaptation by starvation.

Dynamic analysis of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus CFL1 physiological characteristics during fermentation

This study aimed at examining and comparing the relevance of various methods in order to discriminate different cellular states of Lactobacillus bulgaricus CFL1 and to improve knowledge on the dynamics of the cellular physiological state during growth and acidification. By using four fluorescent probes combined with multiparametric flow cytometry, membrane integrity, intracellular esterase activity, cellular vitality, membrane depolarization, and intracellular pH were quantified throughout fermentations. Results were compared and correlated with measurements of cultivability, acidification activity (Cinac system), and cellular ability to recover growth in fresh medium (Bioscreen system). The Cinac system and flow cytometry were relevant to distinguish different physiological states throughout growth. Lb. bulgaricus cells maintained their high viability, energetic state, membrane potential, and pH gradient in the late stationary phase, despite the gradual decrease of both cultivability and acidification activity. Viability and membrane integrity were maintained during acidification, at the expense of their cultivability and acidification activity. Finally, this study demonstrated that the physiological state during fermentation was strongly affected by intracellular pH and the pH gradient. The critical pHi of Lb. bulgaricus CFL1 was found to be equal to pH 5.8. Through linear relationships between dpH and cultivability and pHi and acidification activity, pHi and dpH well described the time course of metabolic activity, cultivability, and viability in a single analysis.

Characterization of Streptococcus salivarius growth and maintenance in artificial saliva

Aims:  To help gain a better understanding of factors influencing the establishment within the oral cavity of Streptococcus salivarius K12, a commensal oral bacterium, we characterized its behaviour in artificial saliva.

Osmotic stress affects the stability of freeze-dried Lactobacillus buchneri R1102 as a result of intracellular betaine accumulation and membrane characteristics.

To help cells to better resist the stressful conditions associated with the freeze‐drying process during starter production, we investigated the effect of various osmotic conditions on growth, survival and acidification activity of Lactobacillus buchneri R1102, after freeze‐drying and during storage for 3 months at 25°C.

Membrane fatty acid composition and fluidity are involved in the resistance to freezing of Lactobacillus buchneri R1102 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175

Determinations of membrane fatty acid composition and fluidity were used together with acidification activity and viability measurements to characterize the physiological state after freezing of Lactobacillus buchneri R1102 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175 cells harvested in the exponential and stationary growth phases. For both strains, lower membrane fluidity was achieved in cells harvested in the stationary growth phase. This change was linked to a lower unsaturated‐to‐saturated fatty acid ratio for both strains and a higher cyclic‐to‐saturated fatty acid ratio for L. buchneri R1102 alone. These membrane properties were linked to survival and to maintenance of acidification activity of the cells after freezing, which differed according to the strain and the growth phase. Survival of B. longum R0175 was increased by 10% in cells with low membrane fluidity and high relative saturated fatty acid contents, without any change in acidification activity. Acidification activity was more degraded (70 min) in L. buchneri R1102 cells displaying low membrane fluidity and high saturated and cyclic fatty acid levels. Finally, this study showed that membrane modifications induced by the growth phase differed among bacterial strains in terms of composition. By lowering membrane fluidity, these modifications could be beneficial for survival of B. longum R0175 during the freezing process but detrimental for maintenance of acidification activity of L. buchneri R1102.

Advanced digital image analysis method dedicated to the characterization of the morphology of filamentous fungus

Filamentous fungi have a complex morphology that induces fermentation process development issues, as a consequence of viscosity increase and diffusion limitations. In order to better understand the relationship between viscosity changes and fungus morphology during fermentations of Trichoderma reesei, an accurate image analysis method has been developed to provide quantitative and representative data for morphological analysis. This method consisted of a new algorithm called FACE that allowed sharp images to be created at all positions, segmentation of fungus, and morphological analysis using skeleton and topological approaches. It was applied and validated by characterizing samples of an industrial strain of Trichoderma reesei that had or had not been exposed to an extreme shear stress. This method allowed many morphological characteristics to be identified, among which nine relevant criteria were extracted, regarding the impact of shear stress on the fungus and on the viscosity of the fermentation medium.

Salivary enzymes and exhaled air affect Streptococcus salivarius growth and physiological state in complemented artificial saliva

To better understand the phenomena governing the establishment of the oral bacterium Streptococcus salivarius in the mouth, the effect of some environmental factors has been studied in complemented artificial saliva, under oral pH and temperature conditions. Three salivary enzymes at physiological concentrations were tested: peroxidase, lysozyme and amylase, as well as injection of exhaled air. Injection of air containing 5% CO2 and 16% O2 induced a deleterious effect on S. salivarius K12, mainly by increasing redox potential. Addition of lysozyme slightly affected the physiological state of S. salivarius by altering membrane integrity. In contrast, peroxidase was not detrimental as it made it possible to decrease the redox potential. The addition of amylase reduced the specific growth rate of S. salivarius by formation of a complex with amylase and mucins, but led to high final biomass, as a result of enzymatic degradation of some nutrients. Finally, this work demonstrated that salivary enzymes had a slight impact on S. salivarius behaviour. It can thus be concluded that this bacterium was well adapted to in-mouth conditions, as it was able to resist certain salivary enzymes, even if tolerance to expired air was affected, as a result of an increased redox potential.