AUTHOR=Nawaz Farah , Khan Muhammad Nadeem , Javed Aqib , Ahmed Ibrar , Ali Naeem , Ali Muhammad Ishtiaq , Bakhtiar Syeda Mariam , Imran Muhammad 

TITLE=Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus mundtii QAUEM2808, Isolated From Artisanal Fermented Milk Product Dahi

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00434

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.00434

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Microbial strains with a unique combination of technological and bioactive properties are preferred for industrial applications. The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential use of <italic>Enterococcus mundtii</italic> QAUEM2808 (NCBI Accession Number: <ext-link ext-link-type="DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank" xlink:href="LSMC00000000" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LSMC00000000</ext-link>) in milk fermentation. This strain was isolated from Dahi, an indigenous fermented milk product of South-East Asia. The <italic>in vitro</italic> study confirmed the acidification ability as well as the proteolytic, cellulolytic, and amylolytic enzyme activities of this strain. It also produced a substantial amount of the folate in laboratory media and no physiological dysfunctions in laboratory animals was observed in feeding trials. All these properties were confirmed by <italic>in silico</italic> genome analysis. The <italic>Enterococcus mundtii</italic> QAUEM2808 genome consisted of a single, circular chromosome comprising 2,957,300-bp, 2,587 genes with GC content of 38.5%. Moreover, 16t RNAs, 1, 3 (16S, 23S) rRNAs, 4 ncRNAs, and 91 pseudo genes were also predicted. The majority of genome encode genes for protein, amino acids, carbohydrate, cell wall DNA and RNA metabolisms including all genes required for conversion of lactose to lactic acid. It also exhibited antimicrobial activity against <italic>E. coli</italic> ATCC 10536, <italic>S. aureus</italic> ATCC 6538, <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic> ATCC 9027, and <italic>L. monocytogenes</italic> ATCC 13932 and was found to be sensitive to commonly used antibiotics. The <italic>in silico</italic> analysis revealed the presence of genes for mundaticin and enterocin production, and CRISPER regions, however, the genes for antibiotic resistance were absent. No genes related to the pathogenicity island and prophages were detected by genome mining. Therefore, it could be inferened that <italic>Enterococcus mundtii</italic> QAUEM2808 has the potential to be used in milk fermentation as adjunct culture.</p>