Functional analysis of biosynthetic genes for bacteriocins

Abstract

Among bacteriocins, ribosomally synthesized bacterial antimicrobial peptides, those produced by lactic acid bacteria, in particular, are expected to be used as safe antimicrobial agents for food preservation. Novel bacteriocins with excellent properties have been extensively explored, and functional analysis of the biosynthetic genes has been conducted to elucidate its structure, biosynthesis mechanism and action mechanism. The biosynthetic proteins are encoded on the vicinity of the bacteriocin precursor gene, and the biosynthetic gene cluster includes the genes encoding proteins responsible for self-immunity against their own bacteriocins, secretion of bacteriocins, posttranslational modification and production regulation. The functions of these biosynthetic genes are expected to be applied to secretory production of peptides and introduction of modified structures to various peptides. In this review, we will introduce our novel bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria, focusing on determination of biosynthetic genes and their