The role of plNC8HK-plnD genes in bacteriocin production in Lactobacillus plantarum KLDS1.0391

The function of plNC8HK gene and plnD gene on the bacteriocin production of Lactobacillus plantarum KLDS1.0391 was studied. The results of bioinformatics analysis showed that PlNC8HK protein was a histidine protein kinase and a cytoplasmic membrane protein with six transmembrane helices. PlnD protein was a response regulator of the LytR/AlgR family. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that plNC8HK and plnD genes of L. plantarum KLDS1.0391 were up-regulated significantly (P < 0.01) when L. plantarum KLDS1.0391 co-cultured with Lactobacillus helveticus KLDS1.9207. The plNC8HK-plnD mutant was also constructed. The change of antibacterial activity, AI-2 activity and cell number of plNC8HK-plnD mutant in co-culture and mono-culture demonstrated that plNC8HK and plnD genes were essential for bacteriocin production in L. plantarum KLDS1.0391, and the increase of bacteriocin production correlated closely with plNC8HK and plnD genes in co-culture. These results are beneficial to understand the role of two components system in the bacteriocin production of L. plantarum.