Physiological Responses of Oxygen-Tolerant Anaerobic Bifidobacterium longum under Oxygen

Physiological Responses of Oxygen-Tolerant Anaerobic Bifidobacterium longum under Oxygen

In order to investigate what kind of response anaerobic bifidobacteria has on oxygen stress, five oxygen-tolerant bifidobacteria were isolated from human fecal samples. All were temporarily identified as Bifidobacterium longum through an analysis of carbohydrate utilization patterns and cellular fatty acid profiles. In the presence of oxygen, the lag phase became extended and the cell growth was suppressed. Bifidobacterial cell was able to remove dissolved oxygen in an early stage of growth and to overcome oxygen stress to a certain extent. The cell became long n size and showed a rough surface containing many nodes which were derived from abnormal or incomplete cell division. Cellular fatty acid profiled changed remarkably under a partially aerobic condition, so that the carbon chain of cellular fatty acid became short. All the dimethyl acetals originated from plasmalogen were reduced, any cyclopropane fatty acid, 9, 10-methyleneoctadecanoic acid ($C_{19:0}cyc9,10$), was increased remarkably. Oxygen stress induced a 5.5 kD protein in B. longum JI 1 of the oxygen-teolerant bifidobacteria, that was named Osp protein, and its N-terminal amino acid sequence was as follows: unknown amino acid-Thr-Gly-Val-Arg-Phe-Ser-Asp-Asp-Glu. Therefore, the oxygen-tolerant bifidobacteria seemed to defend against oxygen stress byincreasing the content of short fatty acid and cyclopropane fatty acid, and induction of an oxygen stress protein, but not the plasmalogen.