A study of Streptococcus thermophilus proteome by integrated analytical procedures and differential expression investigations

Streptococcus thermophilus is a Gram-positive bacterium belonging to the group of lactic acid bacteria, among which several genera play an essential role in manufacture of food products. Recently, a genomic consortium sequenced and annotated its entire genome, which has been demonstrated to contain 1900 coding sequences. In this study, we have revealed the expression products of almost 200 different genes using a proteomic strategy combining 2-DE plus MALDI-TOF PMF and differential 1-DE plus mu LC-ESI-IT-MS/MS. Thus, a number of cellular pathways related to important physiological processes were described at the proteomic level. Almost 50 genes were related to multiple electrophoretic species, whose heterogeneity was mainly due to variability in pI values. A 2-DE reference map obtained for lactose-grown cells was compared with those obtained after heat, cold, acid, oxidative and starvation stresses. Protein up/down-regulation measurements demonstrated that adaptation to different environmental challenges may involve the contribution of unique as well as combined physiological mechanisms. Common regulatory sites in the promoter region of genes whose expression was induced after stress were identified. These results provide a better comprehension of biochemical processes related to stress resistance in S. thermophilus, allowing defining the molecular bases of adaptative responses or markers for the identification of strains with potential industrial applications.