School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Microb Biotechnol. 2023 Sep;16(9):1745-1754. doi: 10.1111/1751-7915.14320. Epub 2023 Jul 15.
Lactococcus is one of the earliest identified fermentative bacterial genera and among its member species, the dairy-associated Lactococcus lactis and Lactococcus cremoris are undoubtedly the best studied. These two species are believed to have evolved from plant-associated lactococci and through genome decay and acquisition of plasmids, have adapted to the dairy niche. The past decade has witnessed a surge of activity in novel lactococcal species identification from insect, plant and animal sources. Currently, 22 Lactococcus species are described and in this review, we summarise the genome characteristics of and phylogenetic relationships among these species. Furthermore, we explore the role of mobile elements including plasmids and bacteriophages in the diversification of lactococcal species. The pace of identification of novel lactococcal species suggests that the number of lactococcal species is likely to continue to grow. With additional sequence data for the emerging species, it will be possible to perform pathogenicity/virulence risk evaluations and generate extensive insights into the niche adaptation strategies through which they have evolved.
乳球菌是最早被鉴定的发酵细菌属之一，在其成员物种中，与乳制品相关的乳球菌 lactis 和乳球菌 cremoris 无疑是研究最多的。这两个物种被认为是从植物相关的乳球菌进化而来的，通过基因组衰减和质粒的获取，适应了乳制品的生态位。在过去的十年中，人们从昆虫、植物和动物来源中发现了新型乳球菌的活动激增。目前，已有 22 种乳球菌被描述，在本综述中，我们总结了这些物种的基因组特征和系统发育关系。此外，我们还探讨了可移动元件（包括质粒和噬菌体）在乳球菌物种多样化中的作用。新型乳球菌的鉴定速度表明，乳球菌的数量可能会继续增加。随着新兴物种的更多序列数据，我们将有可能对其进行致病性/毒力风险评估，并深入了解它们进化所采用的生态位适应策略。
