Abstract
Maintenance of a high degree of biodiversity in homogeneous environments is poorly understood. A complex cheese starter culture with a long history of use was characterized as a model system to study simple microbial communities. Eight distinct genetic lineages were identified, encompassing two species: Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. The genetic lineages were found to be collections of strains with variable plasmid content and phage sensitivities. Kill-the-winner hypothesis explaining the suppression of the fittest strains by density-dependent phage predation was operational at the strain level. This prevents the eradication of entire genetic lineages from the community during propagation regimes (back-slopping), stabilizing the genetic heterogeneity in the starter culture against environmental uncertainty
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 2126-2136 |
Journal | ISME Journal |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Keywords
- lactic-acid bacteria
- complete genome sequence
- lactococcus-lactis
- dairy environment
- subsp lactis
- raw-milk
- cremoris
- plasmids
- cheese
- identification