Influence of Lactic Acid on Cell Cycle Progressions in Lactobacillus bulgaricus During Batch Culture

Lactic acid has been proved to inhibit the proliferation of lactic acid bacteria in the fermentation process. To shed light on the cell cycle alterations in acidic conditions, the cell division of Lactobacillus bulgaricus sp1.1 in batch culture was analyzed directly by implementing of the intracellular fluorescent tracking assay in different pH adjusted by lactic acid. Cell proliferation and cell division were investigated to be negatively controlled by the decrease of pH, and pH 4.1 was the critical condition of downregulating cell division but retains cell culturability. The cell area and cell length in pH 4.1 were examined by using fluorescent labeling, and they reduced to about 29.18–34.89% and 32.67–40% of cells cultured in the unacidified medium, respectively. The DNA replication initiation was undergoing prompted by the low extent of DNA condensation and higher expression of the dnaA gene in this critical pH. The results indicated that the cell cycle progressions of Lactobacillus bulgaricus sp1.1 in acidic conditions were arrested at intracellular biomass accumulation and cell division stage. These findings provide fundamental insight into cell cycle control of the acidic environment in Lactobacillus bulgaricus sp1.1.