CASEICIN, A BACTERIOCIN FROM LACTOBACILLUS-CASEI

The intracellular bacteriocin caseicin 80 was purified from cell extracts of Lactobacillus casei strain B80. It is a thermolabile protein with an apparent molar mass of 42 kDa. As no plasmids were observed in the bacteriocinogenic strain it is assumed that caseicin is encoded by the bacterial chromosome. Using C-14-labelled precursors it was found that biosynthesis of DNA and proteins was influenced by caseicin but this inhibition is probably not the primary effect. The incorporation of fructose but not of glucose into cellular material was inhibited by caseicin.