Protein Expression Level Changes in Weissella koreensis during Garlic Media Fermentation

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Garlic is used in cooking and is known to have antibacterial properties due to various organic sulfur components. Weissella koreensis is one of the lactic acid bacteria used for fermentation with garlic and is a strain found in kimchi in Korea, one of foods to which garlic is added. In this study, the addition of garlic to the medium did not cause a difference in growth of W. koreensis. However, the addition of garlic to the growth medium did produce changes in the amount of specific W. koreensis proteins. This study provides basic information about the effect of garlic on fermentation using W. koreensis. ABSTRACT: This study investigated the changes in Weissella koreensis (WK) protein expression levels during fermentation in MRS medium supplemented with garlic of WK. WK was first discovered as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in a Korean fermented cabbage dish known as kimchi. The number of WK cells in MRS medium with garlic (MBCG) and without (MB) after 7 days was 3.55 × 10(10) and 2.55 × 10(10) CFU/mL, respectively. To observe the changes in the carbon sources in the media, we measured the glucose, sucrose, lactic acid, and acetic acid levels in each medium (MB and MBCG). Thus, 67.2 ± 2.4 (MB) and 64.2 ± 4.7 (MBCG) mmol(−1) of glucose were consumed. For sucrose, the level was 3.5 ± 2.2 (MB), and 3.4 ± 2.5 (MBCG) mmol(−1). There was not much difference in the lactic acid and acetic acid levels at 160.8 ± 0.4 (MB) and 159.2 ± 0.2 (MBCG) and 2.4 ± 0.4 (MB) and 2.2 ± 8.1 (MBCG) mmol(−1), respectively. After the 7-day fermentation period, two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) was used to confirm the protein expression pattern in the WK strain. The results show that the fusA and ssb1 proteins were reduced, and the clpP protein was increased. Afterwards, the expression patterns of the above proteins were confirmed through qRT-PCR. Thus, this study confirms the changes in protein expression levels in Weissella koreensis when garlic was added to the media. This study provides basic data for future studies on the major biosynthetic pathways of WK.