Zeitschrift für klinische und experimentelle Pathologie

Abstrakt

DNA-protection by Polyamines in Lactobacillus sakei No.2

Jae-ho Choi, Ki-sok Kim, Hyung-ki Do and Cher-won Hwang

In a previous study we showed that we had isolated Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) that produce high amounts of the polyamines found in fermented food that function as antioxidants . In this study, we concentrated on another function by investigating polyamines in relation to anti-cancer effects. Although a QR (Quinone Reductase) test showed no anti-cancer effect, good results were obtained for DNA protection and we compared polyamine production and growth of No.2 strain using a RT-PCR machine. This DNA protection may be related to an anti-cancer effect.

After suggesting that polyamines had the ability to protect DNA, we collected polyamines of LAB (Lactobacillus sp. No.2) by HPLC with a fraction collector. Next, Ornithine Decarboxylase (ODC), which is considered as a polyamine producing enzyme, was detected in Lactobacillus sp. No.2 using Western blot and RT-PCR analyses. The results of RT-PCR showed that polyamine production from No.2 strain was related to growth time and especially that culture for 36 hours provided the best conditions for polyamine production. In summary this means that ODC gene expression is related to polyamine production and hence DNA protection.