Lactobacillus plantarum

Genome structure
In 2003, Michiel Kleerebezem mapped out the complete genome of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1. Lactobacillus plantarum strain WCFS1 is known to have 3,308,274 base pairs and contains 3,052 protein-encoding genes as well as three plasmids (1,917-bp, 2,365-bp, and 36,069-bp,) which accounts for its high adaptability. The G+C content of the chromosome is 44.5%, but the plasmids contain slightly less G+C content. 1

Cell structure and metabolism
Lactobacillus plantarum is a gram positive, rod-shaped, organotrophic, bacteria often called lactic acid bacteria because it gets most of its energy from converting glucose to lactate via homolactic and heterolactic fermentation. Homolactic fermentation uses the EMP pathway and heterolactic fermentation uses the phosphoketolase pathway. Therefore, L. plantarum is a facultative heterofermentative lactobacilli. 2 1

Ecology
Lactobacillus plantarum is a highly adaptive bacteria that can survive at temperatures between 10º to 60º Celsius. L. plantarum is found in fermented foods including yogurt, cheese, kim chee and is also found in animal GI tracts, human saliva, and plants. 3 4 1

Pathology
Lactobacillus plantarum 299v is actually considered to be a probiotic. Due to its ability to survive in the human GI tract for >6 days, L. plantarum 299v can inhibit the growth of other harmful bacteria such as E. coli in the host after contaminated meat consumption. L. plantarum 299v is found in various fermented foods such as yogurt, cheese, kim chee, and is recommended to be consumed regularly to support the immune system. In addition, the ability of L. plantarum 299v to produce lactic acid helps maintain healthy, low pH levels of the GI tract. 1 3  4

Applications to Biotechnology
In 2004, Jean-Marie Perrier-Cornet discovered a way to control food fermentation by using Lactobacillus plantarum. A cold pasteurization method without freezing the food is a new technology for the food industry. Perrier-Cornet found optimization of the procedure when pasteurizing L. plantarum for 10 min at temperatures between −20 and 25 °C and pressure between 100 and 350 MPa. 5

Current Research
In 2006, Michael Schultz studied the effects of treatment with Lactobacillus plantarum on immunodeficient mice prone to the development of colitis. The study found that L. plantarum administered orally with water to interleukin-10-deficient mice produced significant results of reduced immune-mediated colitis. This suggests that L. plantarum has the potential to be used against clinical inflammatory bowel diseases. 6