Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences presents the complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum in the scientific literature

Citation

(2003), "Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences presents the complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum in the scientific literature", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 33 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2003.01733eab.004

Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences presents the complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum in the scientific literature

Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences presents the complete genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum in the scientific literature

Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences (WCFS), Greenomics (Plant Research International BV) and the Centre for Molecular and Biomolecular Informatics (CMBI) of the University of Nijmegen have published the complete genome sequence of the lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum in the renowned scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. This important milestone in microbial genomic sequencing was reached through a joint effort, initiated in 2000, in which the organisations involved combined their strengths in the knowledge of microbial genetics and industrial fermentations with that of whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics. The project demonstrates the value of the WCFS partners for the agro-food industry.

Greenomics conducted the shotgun cloning and high fidelity sequencing of Lactobacillus plantarum within one year. Initial automatic annotation of encoded gene-functions by Greenomics was followed by a detailed, high quality, manually corrected annotation by CMBI. These efforts have led to a good prediction of the genetic blueprint of this lactic acid bacterium, which could function as an exemplary genomic sequence for the Lactobacillus bacterial group. This genome sequence will be of key importance within future research projects performed by the WCFS, which will exploit functional genomics technologies, including DNA-microarrays, proteomics and metabolomics.

This is the largest project WCFS has outsourced since its foundation in 1997 in the Wageningen Food Valley. Professor Cr. Willem M. de Vos, WCFS Scientific Director Microbial Functionality and Safety comments: "The sequencing and annotation of this first Lactobacillus genome is a major step forward and can be seen as a stepping stone for further functional genomics studies from which both the food industry and the food consumers will benefit".

Dr Michiel Kleerebezem, WCFS project leader adds: "The complete genome Lactobacillus plantarum will be an essential tool within the research recently initiated by WCFS, which aims at elucidation of specific host-microbe interactions within the human gastrointestinal tract, using L. plantarum as a model microbe".