• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.287-295
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• 2020

Lactobacillus zymae GU240 was previously isolated from Kimchi, a Korean fermented vegetable, as a strong GABA producer. The strain showed β-galactosidase (β-Gal) activity on MRS agar plates with X-gal. When growth and β-Gal activities of GU240 were measured using MRS (glucose, 2%, w/v) and MRSL (lactose, 2%, w/v) broths, cells were found to grow slowly in MRSL, and the β-Gal activity (36 units at 4 h) was lower than that of cells grown in MRS (94 units at 16 h). The highest OD₆₀₀ value of the culture in MRS was 1.6 at 24 h at 37℃, whereas that of the culture in MRSL was 0.6 at 16 h. β-Gal activity of the culture in MRS reached the maximum (95.6 u/ml) at 16 h, decreased thereafter, and was not detected at 48 h. β-Gal activity for culture in MRSL reached its highest (36 u/ml) at 4 h and decreased gradually, but some activity (11.05 u/ml) still remained at 72 h. The structural gene encoding β-Gal in L. zymae GU240 was cloned as a 3.1 kb fragment, and DNA sequencing confirmed the presence of complete lacLM genes. lacLM genes from L. zymae GU240 showed 98-99% homologies in nucleotide sequences with other lacLM genes from L. brevis. Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR confirmed the operon structure of lacLM. The results indicated that L. zymae GU240 might be in the process of losing the ability to grow rapidly on lactose-containing medium, such as milk, due to adaptations to plant environments, including kimchi.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.534-541
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• 2018

Kimchi (a traditional Korean fermented vegetable) was prepared with a starter, Lactobacillus zymae GU240 producing ${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and one precursor of GABA (glutamic acid, glutamic acid monosodium salt (MSG), or kelp extract). L. zymae GU240, an isolate from kimchi, can grow at 7% NaCl and low temperature. Five different kimchi samples were fermented for 20 weeks at $-1^{\circ}C$. Kimchi with starter alone could not produce GABA. The GABA content was highest in kimchi with co-inoculation of the starter and MSG (1% (w/w)). Kimchi co-inoculated with the starter and kelp extract powder (3% (w/w)) had the second highest GABA content. Addition of glutamic acid powder (1% (w/w)) caused a reduction in the pH level of kimchi and growth inhibition of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. Kimchi samples with MSG or kelp extract showed improvement of sensory evaluation scores. The results demonstrate the possibility to produce kimchi with improved functionality and taste by using L. zymae GU240 as a starter along with a suitable precursor such as MSG or kelp extract.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2022

Two small cryptic plasmids, pHG1 and pHG2, were isolated from Levilactobacillus zymae (formerly Lactobacillus zymae) GU240 and characterized. pHG1 is 1,814 bp in size with a GC content of 37.4% and contains two open reading frames. orf1 can potentially encode a protein of 101 amino acids (aa) with 99% identity with the copy number control protein of Lacticaseibacillus paracasei. orf2 can potentially encode a protein of 230 aa with 99% identity with a replication protein from multiple species. Six inverted repeats (IR I-VI) and six direct repeats (DR I-VI) were found in pHG1. pHG2 is 2,864 bp in size, with a GC content of 39.6%. pHG2 has two orfs. orf1 might encode a protein with 99% identity with the TrsL transmembrane protein. orf2 might encode a protein with 99% identity with plasmid recombination proteins from lactic acid bacteria. Both pHG1 and pHG2 may be useful as frames for constructing lactic acid bacteria-Escherichia coli shuttle vectors.