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Distribution of Megaplasmids in Lactobacillus salivarius and Other Lactobacilli ^,

Yin Li, Carlos Canchaya, Fang Fang, Emma Raftis, Kieran A. Ryan, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Douwe van Sinderen, and Paul W. O'Toole^*

Department of Microbiology and Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

Received 26 March 2007/ Accepted 13 June 2007

The genome of Lactobacillus salivarius UCC118 includes a 242-kb megaplasmid, pMP118. We now show that 33 strains of L. salivarius isolated from humans and animals all harbor a megaplasmid, which hybridized with the repA and repE replication origin probes of pMP118. Linear megaplasmids that did not hybridize with the pMP118 repA probe were also found in some strains of L. salivarius, showing for the first time that a lactic acid bacterium has multiple megaplasmids. Phylogenetic analysis of the repE and groEL sequences of 28 L. salivarius strains suggested similar evolutionary paths for the chromosome and megaplasmid. Although the replication origin of circular megaplasmids in L. salivarius was highly conserved, genotypic and phenotypic comparisons revealed significant variation between megaplasmid-encoded traits. Furthermore, megaplasmids of sizes ranging from 120 kb to 490 kb were present in seven strains belonging to six other Lactobacillus species from among 91 strains and 47 species tested. The discovery of the widespread presence of megaplasmids in L. salivarius, and restricted carriage by other Lactobacillus species, provides an opportunity to study the contribution of large extrachromosomal replicons to the biology of Lactobacillus.

Published ahead of print on 22 June 2007.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Present address: Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China.

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