Survey on the CRISPR arrays in Lactobacillus helveticus genomes.

Lactobacillus helveticus is a homofermentative thermophilic LAB that is mainly used in the manufacture of Swiss type and long-ripened Italian hard cheeses. In this study, the presence of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) were analysed in 25 L. helveticus genomes and identified in 23 of these genomes. A total of 40 CRISPR loci were identified and classified into five main families based on CRISPR repeats: Ldbu1, Lsal1, Lhel1, Lhel2 and a new repeat family named Lhel3. Spacers had a size between 30 and 40 bp whereas repeats have an average size of 30 bp, with three longer repeats. The analysis displayed the presence of conserved spacers in 23 out of the 40 CRISPR loci. A geographical distribution of L. helveticus isolates with similar CRISPR spacer array profiles were not observed. Based on the presence of the signature protein Cas3, all CRISPR loci belonged to Type I. This analysis demonstrated a great CRISPR array variability within L. helveticus, which could be a useful tool for genotypic strain differentiation. A next step will be to understand the possible role of CRISPR/Cas system for the resistance of L. helveticus to phage infection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.