TEMPERATURE REGULATION OF LIPASE SECRETION BY PSEUDOMONAS-FLUORESCENSSTRAIN MFO

The psychrotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens is a milk contami nant known to secrete a lipase that is a nuisance for the dairy indust ry but may have a biotechnological interest. Strain MFO secretes this enzyme upon induction under various conditions. Regardless of the indu cer and growth temperature, a single enzyme is produced. However, opti mal production occurs when the culture is grown at 17.5-degrees-C. Oth er exported proteins (an extracellular protease and two periplasmic ph osphatases) have previously been shown to display exactly the same opt imal temperature of production. In contrast, constitutive cell-bound e sterase and cytochrome oxidase are produced at a roughly constant rate regardless of the growth temperature. The relevance of these results are discussed in terms of multifunctional regulation and interest for the dairy industry.