Production of extracellular lipases and proteinases during prolonged growth of strains of psychrotrophic bacteria in whole milk.

Abstract

Three strains of psychrotrophic Pseudomonas spp., each with different lipolytic and proteolytic phenotypes (including a proteinase-deficient mutant), were cultured separately in whole milk at 7 degrees C. Growth rates were the same during logarithmic growth phase, but during early stationary phase the cell densities were related to the activities of lipase and proteinase in the cultures. Only one strain underwent pronounced death phase. Proteinase activity was not detected in the culture of the proteinase-deficient mutant, but in those of the other strains it increased to a plateau, or continued to increase linearly. Lipase activity of the culture of each strain reached a peak in early stationary phase; in late stationary phase activity was highest for the proteinase-deficient mutant strain where degradation of lipase by bacterial proteinase would have been least. The ability of psychrotrophic bacteria both to survive for long periods and to produce high levels of proteinases and lipases on prolonged incubation in milk emphasizes the spoilage potential arising from psychrotrophic bacteria in inadequately cleaned dairy equipment.