Maria Cruz Martin

Factors influencing biogenic amines accumulation in dairy products

Fermented foods are among the food products more often complained of having caused episodes of biogenic amines (BA) poisoning. Concerning milk-based fermented foods, cheese is the main product likely to contain potentially harmful levels of BA, specially tyramine, histamine, and putrescine. Prompted by the increasing awareness of the risks related to dietary uptake of high biogenic amine loads, in this review we report all those elaboration and processing technological aspects affecting BA biosynthesis and accumulation in dairy foods. Improved knowledge of the factors involved in the synthesis and accumulation of BA should lead to a reduction in their incidence in milk products. Synthesis of BA is possible only when three conditions converge: (i) availability of the substrate amino acids; (ii) presence of microorganisms with the appropriate catabolic pathway activated; and (iii) environmental conditions favorable to the decarboxylation activity. These conditions depend on several factors such as milk treatment (pasteurization), use of starter cultures, NaCl concentration, time, and temperature of ripening and preservation, pH, temperature, or post-ripening technological processes, which will be discussed in this chapter.

A fast, reliable, ultra high performance liquid chromatography method for the simultaneous determination of amino acids, biogenic amines and ammonium ions in cheese, using diethyl ethoxymethylenemalonate as a derivatising agent

Derivatisation treatment with diethyl ethoxymethylenemalonate followed by ultra-HPLC allowed the simultaneous quantification of 22 amino acids, 7 biogenic amines and ammonium ions in cheese samples in under 10 min. This is the fastest elution time ever reported for such a resolution. The proposed method shows good linearity (R(2)>0.995) and sensitivity (detection limit 0.08-3.91 μM; quantification limit <13.02 μM). Intra- and inter-day repeatability ranged from 0.35% to 1.25% and from 0.85% to 5.2%, respectively. No significant effect of the cheese matrix was observed.

Sequencing and transcriptional analysis of the biosynthesis gene cluster of putrescine-producing Lactococcus lactis

ABSTRACT Lactococcus lactis is a prokaryotic microorganism with great importance as a culture starter and has become the model species among the lactic acid bacteria. The long and safe history of use of L. lactis in dairy fermentations has resulted in the classification of this species as GRAS (General Regarded As Safe) or QPS (Qualified Presumption of Safety). However, our group has identified several strains of L. lactis subsp. lactis and L. lactis subsp. cremoris that are able to produce putrescine from agmatine via the agmatine deiminase (AGDI) pathway. Putrescine is a biogenic amine that confers undesirable flavor characteristics and may even have toxic effects. The AGDI cluster of L. lactis is composed of a putative regulatory gene, aguR, followed by the genes (aguB, aguD, aguA, and aguC) encoding the catabolic enzymes. These genes are transcribed as an operon that is induced in the presence of agmatine. In some strains, an insertion (IS) element interrupts the transcription of the cluster, which results in a non-putrescine-producing phenotype. Based on this knowledge, a PCR-based test was developed in order to differentiate nonproducing L. lactis strains from those with a functional AGDI cluster. The analysis of the AGDI cluster and their flanking regions revealed that the capacity to produce putrescine via the AGDI pathway could be a specific characteristic that was lost during the adaptation to the milk environment by a process of reductive genome evolution.

Multiplex Fast Real-Time PCR for Quantitative Detection and Identification of cos- and pac-Type Streptococcus thermophilus Bacteriophages

ABSTRACT The fermentation of milk by Streptococcus thermophilus is a widespread industrial process that is susceptible to bacteriophage attack. In this work, a preventive fast real-time PCR method for the detection, quantification, and identification of types of S. thermophilus phages in 30 min is described.

The putrescine biosynthesis pathway in Lactococcus lactis is transcriptionally regulated by carbon catabolic repression, mediated by CcpA.

Lactococcus lactis is the lactic acid bacterium most widely used by the dairy industry as a starter for the manufacture of fermented products such as cheese and buttermilk. However, some strains produce putrescine from agmatine via the agmatine deiminase (AGDI) pathway. The proteins involved in this pathway, including those necessary for agmatine uptake and conversion into putrescine, are encoded by the aguB, aguD, aguA and aguC genes, which together form an operon. This paper reports the mechanism of regulation of putrescine biosynthesis in L. lactis. It is shown that the aguBDAC operon, which contains a cre site at the promoter of aguB (the first gene of the operon), is transcriptionally regulated by carbon catabolic repression (CCR) mediated by the catabolite control protein CcpA.

Genetic and functional analysis of biogenic amine production capacity among starter and non-starter lactic acid bacteria isolated from artisanal cheeses

This work reports the capacity of 137 strains of starter and non-starter LAB belonging to nine species of the genera Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Streptococcus and Leuconostoc (all isolated from artisanal cheeses) to produce histamine, tyramine, putrescine and β-phenylethylamine, the biogenic amines (BA) most commonly found in dairy products. Production assays were performed in liquid media supplemented with the appropriate precursor amino acid; culture supernatants were then tested for BA by (U)HPLC. In addition, the presence of key genes involved in the biosynthetic pathways of the target BA, including the production of putrescine via the agmatine deiminase pathway, was assessed by PCR. Twenty strains were shown to have genes involved in the synthesis of BA; these belonged to the species Lactobacillus brevis (4), Lactobacillus curvatus (3), Lactococcus lactis (11) and Streptococcus thermophilus (2). With the exception of the two S. thermophilus strains, all those possessing genes involved in BA production synthesized the corresponding compound. Remarkably, all the putrescine-producing strains used the agmatine deiminase pathway. Four L. brevis and two L. curvatus strains were found able to produce both tyramine and putrescine. There is increasing interest in the use of autochthonous LAB strains in starter and adjunct cultures for producing dairy products with ‘particular geographic indication’ status. Such strains should not produce BA; the present results show that BA production capacity should be checked by (U)HPLC and PCR.

Tyramine biosynthesis is transcriptionally induced at low pH and improves the fitness of Enterococcus faecalis in acidic environments

Enterococcus faecalis is a commensal bacterium of the human gut that requires the ability to pass through the stomach and therefore cope with low pH. E. faecalis has also been identified as one of the major tyramine producers in fermented food products, where they also encounter acidic environments. In the present work, we have constructed a non-tyramine-producing mutant to study the role of the tyramine biosynthetic pathway, which converts tyrosine to tyramine via amino acid decarboxylation. Wild-type strain showed higher survival in a system that mimics gastrointestinal stress, indicating that the tyramine biosynthetic pathway has a role in acid resistance. Transcriptional analyses of the E. faecalis V583 tyrosine decarboxylase cluster showed that an acidic pH, together with substrate availability, induces its expression and therefore the production of tyramine. The protective role of the tyramine pathway under acidic conditions appears to be exerted through the maintenance of the cytosolic pH. Tyramine production should be considered important in the adaptability of E. faecalis to acidic environments, such as fermented dairy foods, and to survive passage through the human gastrointestinal tract.

The dietary biogenic amines tyramine and histamine show synergistic toxicity towards intestinal cells in culture

Tyramine and histamine are the biogenic amines (BA) most commonly found at high concentrations in food; they may even appear together at toxic concentrations. The present work examines, via real-time cell analysis, whether histamine and tyramine show synergistic toxicity towards intestinal cell cultures. Employing a constant equipotency ratio, their interaction was examined via the combination index (CI) method of Chou & Talalay. Co-treatment with tyramine and histamine was associated with a stronger cytotoxic effect than was treatment with either BA or on its own. Indeed, a synergistic interaction (CI<1) was observed in the range of concentrations found in foods. The results also show that histamine, at concentrations below the legal limit, increases the cytotoxicity of tyramine at concentrations frequently reached in some foods. The synergistic cytotoxicity of tyramine and histamine should be taken into account when establishing legal limits designed to ensure consumer safety.

Generation of food-grade recombinant Lactobacillus casei delivering Myxococcus xanthus prolyl endopeptidase

Prolyl endopeptidases (PEP) (EC 3.4.21.26), a family of serine proteases with the ability to hydrolyze the peptide bond on the carboxyl side of an internal proline residue, are able to degrade immunotoxic peptides responsible for celiac disease (CD), such as a 33-residue gluten peptide (33-mer). Oral administration of PEP has been suggested as a potential therapeutic approach for CD, although delivery of the enzyme to the small intestine requires intrinsic gastric stability or advanced formulation technologies. We have engineered two food-grade Lactobacillus casei strains to deliver PEP in an in vitro model of small intestine environment. One strain secretes PEP into the extracellular medium, whereas the other retains PEP in the intracellular environment. The strain that secretes PEP into the extracellular medium is the most effective to degrade the 33-mer and is resistant to simulated gastrointestinal stress. Our results suggest that in the future, after more studies and clinical trials, an engineered food-grade Lactobacillus strain may be useful as a vector for in situ production of PEP in the upper small intestine of CD patients.

Fast real-time polymerase chain reaction for quantitative detection of Lactobacillus delbrueckii bacteriophages in milk.

One of the main microbiological problems of the dairy industry is the susceptibility of starter bacteria to virus infections. Lactobacillus delbrueckii, a component of thermophilic starter cultures used in the manufacture of several fermented dairy products, including yogurt, is also sensitive to bacteriophage attacks. To avoid the problems associated with these viruses, quick and sensitive detection methods are necessary. In the present study, a fast real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay for the direct detection and quantification of L. delbrueckii phages in milk was developed. A set of primers and a TaqMan MGB probe was designed, based on the lysin gene sequence of different L. delbrueckii phages. The results show the proposed method to be a rapid (total processing time 30 min), specific and highly sensitive technique for detecting L. delbrueckii phages in milk.