NisP is related to nisin precursor processing and possibly to immunity in lactococcus lactis

Abstract

In this study, a plasmid was integrated into nisP, creating the first defined mutation in a nisin biosynthetic gene. The mutant strain secreted fully modified nisin with the N-terminal leader still attached. The presence of the leader was corfirmed by N-terminal sequencing of the purified precursor. The dehydration and lanthiomne formation of the precursor were already completed as active nisin could be formed by cleaving the leader from the inactive precursor by a trypsin treatment or by incubation with wild type cells. Nisin immunity of the NisP mutant strain was lowered to about 10% of the wild type immunity. The results show that NisP is needed for precursor processing and for development of high immunity of nisin.

Keywords

Nisin / Lactococcus lactis / nisin immunity / gene mutation

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