ANTI-LISTERIA BACTERIOCINS - A NEW FAMILY OF PROTEINS

Lactic acid bacteria produce some bactericidal compounds. Among them, the bacteriocins are proteins possessing a narrow spectrum of inhibiti on. Some of these bacteriocins allow the inhibition of Listeria monocy togenes, a food-borne pathogen responsible for human listeriosis. Thes e proteins seem to be closely related; they are produced by 2 genera o f lactic acid bacteria: Pediococcus and Leuconostoc, they are small pe ptides with a molecular weight of 2 700 to 4 630 Da, and their encodin g genes are plasmid-linked. Moreover, amino acid sequences are known f or 3 of anti-Listeria bacteriocins, leucocin A, mesentericin Y105 and pediocin PA-1. These proteins have a strong sequence homology. We coul d thus put forward the hypothesis that anti-Listeria bacteriocin belon g to the same family of proteins. We have attempted to sum up the info rmation concerning anti-Listeria bacteriocins in differents fields, eg their mode of action.