Genome analysis of Lactobacillus sakei 23K:: toward new biological and genetic studies of the species

Knowledge of Lactobacillus sakei physiology is scarce. While a wealth of information is becoming available for dairy lactic acid bacteria, we are just beginning to learn about this Lactobacillus involved in meat preservation and fermentation. It is known that L. sakei displays a strong phenotypic variability of strains. As such, these variations could be used to investigate the role of this species in the processes of meat fermentation. Tools for genome analysis is an opportunity to correlate phenotypic variation with genetic diversity. The size of the L. sakei 23K strain circular chromosome is of 1.85 Mb. The characterisation of large recurrent chromosomal elements such as rrn operons or insertion sequence IS1163 will provide a very helpful basis for the study of gene rearrangements, deletions... These are large-scale chromosomal events which may explain the phenotypic variability within the species. At last, the sequencing project of strain 23K launched in the year 2000 and now to near completion, should make a interesting turnaround in the genetic and biological studies of the species.