The arginine deiminase pathway of Lactobacillus fermentum IMDO 130101 responds to growth under stress conditions of both temperature and salt.

The arginine deiminase (ADI) pathway is a means by which certain sourdough lactic acid bacteria (LAB) convert arginine into ornithine via citrulline while producing ammonia and ATP, thereby coping with acid stress and gaining an energetic advantage. Lactobacillus fermentum IMDO 130101, an isolate from a spontaneous laboratory rye sourdough, possesses an ADI pathway which is modulated by environmental pH. In the present study, a broader view of the activity of the ADI pathway in response to growth under two other commonly encountered stress factors, temperature and added salt, was obtained. In both cases, an increase in ornithine production was observed as a response to growth under both temperature and salt stress conditions. Biokinetic parameters were obtained to describe the kinetics of the ADI pathway as a function of temperature and added salt. The arginine conversion rate increased as a function of added NaCl concentrations but was hardly affected by temperature. In addition, arginine-into-citrulline conversion rate was not affected by temperature but increased with increasing NaCl concentrations. Citrulline-into-ornithine conversion rate increased with increasing temperature, while it dropped to zero with added salt. These findings suggest a more pronounced adaptation of the strain through the ADI pathway to added salt, as compared with different constant temperatures. Furthermore, these results suggest that the ADI pathway in L. fermentum IMDO 130101 is active in adapting to non-optimal growth conditions.