Comparative genomics of human Lactobacillus crispatus isolates reveals genes for glycosylation and glycogen degradation: Implications for in vivo dominance of the vaginal microbiota

Background: A vaginal microbiota dominated by lactobacilli (particularly Lactobacillus crispatus) is associated with vaginal health, whereas a vaginal microbiota not dominated by lactobacilli is considered dysbiotic. Here we investigated whether L. crispatus strains isolated from the vaginal tract of women with Lactobacillus-dominated vaginal...

Promising prebiotic candidate established by evaluation of lactitol, lactulose, raffinose, and oligofructose for maintenance of a Lactobacillus-dominated vaginal microbiota

Perturbations to the vaginal microbiota can lead to dysbiosis, including bacterial vaginosis (BV), which affects a large portion of the female population. In a healthy state, the vaginal microbiota is characterized by low diversity and colonization by Lactobacillus spp., whereas in BV, these species are displaced by a highly diverse population...

Molecular assessment of bacterial vaginosis by Lactobacillus abundance and species diversity

Background: To date, women are most often diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis (BV) using microscopy based Nugent scoring or Amsel criteria. However, the accuracy is less than optimal. The aim of the present study was to confirm the identity of known BV-associated composition profiles and evaluate indicators for BV using three molecular methods....

Lactobacillus-dominated cervicovaginal microbiota associated with reduced HIV/STI prevalence and genital HIV viral load in african women

Cervicovaginal microbiota not dominated by lactobacilli may facilitate transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as well as miscarriages, preterm births and sepsis in pregnant women. However, little is known about the exact nature of the microbiological changes that cause these adverse outcomes. In this study,...

Cell surface hydrophobicity is conveyed by S-layer proteins - A study in recombinant lactobacilli

Cell surface hydrophobicity is one of the most important factors controlling adhesion of microorganisms to surfaces. In this paper, cell surface properties of lactobacilli and recombinant lactobacilli with and without a surface layer protein (SLP) associated with cell surface hydrophobicity were determined, including water contact angles, zeta...

The S-layer protein of Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 4356: Identification and characterisation of domains responsible for S-protein assembly and cell wall binding

Lactobacillus acidophilus, like many other bacteria, harbors a surface layer consisting of a protein (SA-protein) of 43 kDa. SA-protein could be readily extracted and crystallized in vitro into large crystalline patches on lipid monolayers with a net negative charge but not on lipids with a net neutral charge. Reconstruction of the S-layer from...

Expression of cbsA encoding the collagen-binding S-protein of Lactobacillus crispatus JCM5810 in Lactobacillus casei ATCC 393T

The cbsA gene encoding the collagen-binding S-layer protein of Lactobacillus crispatus JCM5810 was expressed in L. casei ATCC 393T. The S-protein was not retained on the surface of the recombinant bacteria but was secreted into the medium. By translational fusion of CbsA to the cell wall sorting signal of the proteinase, PrtP, of L. casei, CbsA...

The presence of two S-layer-protein-encoding genes is conserved among species related to Lactobacillus acidophilus

Previously we have shown that the type strain of Lactobacillus acidophilus possesses two S-protein-encoding genes, one of which is silent, on a chromosomal segment of 6 kb. The S-protein-encoding gene in the expression site can be exchanged for the silent S-protein-encoding gene by inversion of this slp segment. In this study the presence of S...