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Clostridium tyrobutyricum has been identified as a major species associated with the late blowing defect (LBD) of semi-hard and hard cheeses, due to undesirable butyric acid fermentation. To find new strategies to control this spoilage bacterium, we investigated the delivery of a bacteriophage endolysin by a cheese starter culture. The nisin producer Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis INIA 415 was engineered to produce the CTP1L endolysin, encoded by the virulent bacteriophage ΦCTP1 of C. tyrobutyricum and with a demonstrated lytic activity in vitro, to the cheese matrix. The presence of the nisRK two-component regulatory system in the host strain allowed constitutive expression of the endolysin under the control of the nisA promoter (P nisA ), while the use of a signal peptide (SLPmod) led to successful secretion of the active endolysin to the surrounding media. Engineered lysins with a second cell wall binding domain were also tested and shown to have improved lytic activity. Transformation of L. lactis subsp. lactis INIA 415 with endolysin delivery plasmids had a detrimental effect on its ability to produce nisin in milk, but did not affect its acidifying capacity. Transformed L. lactis subsp. lactis INIA 415 were evaluated as starters in cheeses contaminated with spores of C. tyrobutyricum. Evolution of microbiological parameters, pH and dry matter of cheeses were studied, and Clostridium metabolism and LBD in cheeses were monitored by sensory and instrumental analyses during ripening. Cheese made with the parental strain L. lactis subsp. lactis INIA 415 delayed LBD by one month, attributable to the activity of the nisin, but it was not sufficient to arrest the growth of C. tyrobutyricum during ripening completely. The use of the endolysin-producing strains in cheese manufacture as single cultures also delayed the appearance of LBD by one month, attributable to the activity of the endolysin produced in situ during ripening, because nisin activity in these cheeses was very low at day 1 and undetectable from 15 days onwards. Endolysin was more effective than nisin in inhibiting Clostridium growth, since cheeses made with the CTP1L or the chimeric derivative producers only as starters showed lower LBD symptoms, higher lactic acid levels and lower concentrations of propionic and butyric acids (associated with off-flavours) than cheese made with the parental strain. Investigation of different promoters to maximise endolysin production may help to implement CTP1L as a tool to control C. tyrobutyricum by L. lactis cheese starter and reduce LBD even further., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Late blowing defect (LBD) is a major cause of spoilage in cheeses, caused by the growth of Clostridium spp. in the cheese matrix. We investigated the application of CTP1L, a bacteriophage endolysin active against Clostridium tyrobutyricum, and its enzymatically active and cell wall-binding domains (EAD and CBD) attached to green fluorescent protein (GFP) to detect dairy-related Clostridium species by fluorescence microscopy. GFP-CTP1L and GFP-CBD demonstrated specificity for Clostridium spp. by labelling 15 and 17 of 20 Clostridium strains, respectively, but neither bound to other members of the cheese microbiota. However, GFP-EAD did not label any Clostridium strain tested. Unexpectedly, GFP-CTP1L and GFP-CBD were also able to bind to clostridial spores. In addition, GFP-CBD allowed us to visualize the vegetative cells of C. tyrobutyricum directly in the matrix of a LBD cheese. Site-directed mutants of GFP-CTP1L and GFP-CBD were made to examine the amino acids involved in binding and oligomer formation. Oligomerization was not essential for binding, but specific mutations in the CBD which affected oligomer formation also affected binding and lytic activity. We conclude that GFP-CTP1L and GFP-CBD could be good biomarkers for rapid detection of Clostridium spores in milk, so measures can be taken for the prevention of LBD in cheese, and also provide effective tools to study the development of Clostridium populations during cheese ripening., (© 2018 The Authors. Microbial Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Bacteriophages produce endolysins, which lyse the bacterial host cell to release newly produced virions. The timing of lysis is regulated and is thought to involve the activation of a molecular switch. We present a crystal structure of the activated endolysin CTP1L that targets Clostridium tyrobutyricum, consisting of a complex between the full-length protein and an N-terminally truncated C-terminal cell wall binding domain (CBD). The truncated CBD is produced through an internal translation start site within the endolysin gene. Mutants affecting the internal translation site change the oligomeric state of the endolysin and reduce lytic activity. The activity can be modulated by reconstitution of the full-length endolysin-CBD complex with free CBD. The same oligomerization mechanism applies to the CD27L endolysin that targets Clostridium difficile and the CS74L endolysin that targets Clostridium sporogenes. When the CTP1L endolysin gene is introduced into the commensal bacterium Lactococcus lactis, the truncated CBD is also produced, showing that the alternative start codon can be used in other bacterial species. The identification of a translational switch affecting oligomerization presented here has implications for the design of effective endolysins for the treatment of bacterial infections., (© 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.)

The bacteriophage ΦCD27 is capable of lysing Clostridium difficile, a pathogenic bacterium that is a major cause for nosocomial infection. A recombinant CD27L endolysin lyses C. difficile in vitro, and represents a promising alternative as a bactericide. To better understand the lysis mechanism, we have determined the crystal structure of an autoproteolytic fragment of the CD27L endolysin. The structure covers the C-terminal domain of the endolysin, and represents a novel fold that is identified in a number of lysins that target Clostridia bacteria. The structure indicates endolysin cleavage occurs at the stem of the linker connecting the catalytic domain with the C-terminal domain. We also solved the crystal structure of the C-terminal domain of a slow cleaving mutant of the CTP1L endolysin that targets C. tyrobutyricum. Two distinct dimerization modes are observed in the crystal structures for both endolysins, despite a sequence identity of only 22% between the domains. The dimers are validated to be present for the full length protein in solution by right angle light scattering, small angle X-ray scattering and cross-linking experiments using the cross-linking amino acid p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine (pBpa). Mutagenesis on residues contributing to the dimer interfaces indicates that there is a link between the dimerization modes and the autocleavage mechanism. We show that for the CTP1L endolysin, there is a reduction in lysis efficiency that is proportional to the cleavage efficiency. We propose a model for endolysin triggering, where the extended dimer presents the inactive state, and a switch to the side-by-side dimer triggers the cleavage of the C-terminal domain. This leads to the release of the catalytic portion of the endolysin, enabling the efficient digestion of the bacterial cell wall.

Endolysin CD27L causes cell lysis of the pathogen Clostridium difficile, a major cause of nosocomial infection. We report a structural and functional analysis of the catalytic activity of CD27L against C. difficile and other bacterial strains. We show that truncation of the endolysin to the N-terminal domain, CD27L1-179, gave an increased lytic activity against cells of C. difficile, while the C-terminal region, CD27L180-270, failed to produce lysis. CD27L1-179 also has increased activity against other bacterial species that are targeted by the full-length protein and in addition was able to lyse some CD27L-insensitive strains. However, CD27L1-179 retained a measure of specificity, failing to lyse a wide range of bacteria. The use of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled proteins demonstrated that both CD27L and CD27L1-179 bound to C. difficile cell walls. The crystal structure of CD27L1-179 confirms that the enzyme is a zinc-dependent N-acetylmuramoyl-l-alanine amidase. A structure-based sequence analysis allowed us to identify four catalytic residues, a proton relay cascade, and a substrate binding pocket. A BLAST search shows that the closest-related amidases almost exclusively target Clostridia. This implied that the catalytic domain alone contained features that target a specific bacterial species. To test this hypothesis, we modified Leu 98 to a Trp residue which is found in an endolysin from a bacteriophage of Listeria monocytogenes (PlyPSA). This mutation in CD27L resulted in an increased activity against selected serotypes of L. monocytogenes, demonstrating the potential to tune the species specificity of the catalytic domain of an endolysin.