Chronic Release of Tailless Phage Particles from Lactococcus lactis
Yue Liu, Svetlana Alexeeva, Herwig Bachmann, Jesús Adrián Guerra Martínez, Nataliya Yeremenko, Tjakko Abee, Eddy J. Smid
Abstract
In complex microbial consortia such as fermentation starters, bacteriophages can alter the dynamics and diversity of microbial communities. Bacteriophages infecting Lactococcus lactis are mostly studied for their detrimental impact on industrial dairy fermentation processes. In this study, we describe a novel form of phage-bacterium interaction in an L. lactis strain isolated from a complex dairy starter culture: when the prophages harbored in the L. lactis genome are activated, the phage particles are engulfed in lipid membranes upon release, leaving the producing host intact. Findings from this study provide additional insights into the diverse manners of phage-bacterium interactions and coevolution, which are essential for understanding the population dynamics in complex microbial communities like fermentation starters.