For

most of these, their direct connection with ribose metabolism is unknown, and is likely an indirect effect. Conclusions The ability to ferment meat and fish is related to the capacity of the bacterium to rapidly take up the available carbohydrates and other components for growth. The importance of this process, especially to the meat industry, stimulates research aimed at understanding the mechanisms for transport and metabolism of these compounds, with the ultimate goal to be able to select improved strains. Genome-wide transcriptome analyses with DNA microarrays efficiently allowed the identification of genes differentially expressed between growth on the two carbohydrates which L. sakei can utilize from these substrates. Moreover, microarrays were a powerful tool to increase the understanding of the bacterium’s primary metabolism and revealed TGF beta inhibitor a global regulatory mechanism. In summary, the ribose uptake and catabolic machinery is highly regulated at the transcription level, and it is closely linked with catabolism of nucleosides. A global regulation mechanism seems to permit a

fine tuning of Captisol mouse the expression of enzymes that control efficient exploitation of available carbon sources. Acknowledgements and funding This work was financially supported by Grant 159058/I10 from the Norwegian Research Council. The authors would like to thank Monique Zagorec for helpful suggestions and critically reading the manuscript. We also thank Margrete Solheim, Sodium butyrate Mari Christine Brekke, and Signe Marie Drømtorp for their assistance during the experiments, and Hallgeir Bergum, the Norwegian Microarray Consortium (NMC), for printing the microarray slides. Electronic supplementary material Additional file 1: Table S3. Primer and probe sets used for qRT-PCR. Presents

the primer and probe sets used for validation of microarray data by qRT-PCR analysis. Table S4. Comparison of microarray data with qRT-PCR results of L. sakei strain LS 25 grown on ribose compared with glucose. Presents gene regulation values (log2) from the qRT-PCR analysis in comparison with microarray data. (PDF 58 KB) References 1. Hammes WP, Bantleon A, Min S: Lactic acid bacteria in meat fermentation. FEMS Microbiol Rev 1990, 87:165–174.CrossRef 2. Hammes WP, Hertel C: New developments in meat starter cultures. Meat Science 1998, 49:125–138.CrossRef 3. Bredholt S, Nesbakken T, Holck A: Protective RG7420 nmr cultures inhibit growth of Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7 in cooked, sliced, vacuum- and gas-packaged meat. Int J Food Microbiol 1999, 53:43–52.PubMedCrossRef 4. Bredholt S, Nesbakken T, Holck A: Industrial application of an antilisterial strain of Lactobacillus sakei as a protective culture and its effect on the sensory acceptability of cooked, sliced, vacuum-packaged meats.