Isolation and characterization of enterocin SE-K4 produced by thermophilic enterococci, Enterococcus faecalis K-4

Enterococcus sp. K-4, with a bacteriocin-like activity against E. faecium, was isolated from grass silage in Thailand. Morphological, physiological, and phylogenetic studies clearly identified strain K-4 as a strain of E. faecalis. Strain K-4 produced a maximal amount of bacteriocin at 43-45°C. We purified, for the first time, the bacteriocin produced at high temperature by E. faecalis to homogeneity, using adsorption on cells of the producer strain and reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The bacteriocin, designated enterocin SE-K4, is a peptide of about 5 kDa as measured by SDS-PAGE, and Mass spectrometry analysis found the molecular mass of 5356.2, which is in good agreement. The amino acid sequencing of the N-terminal end of enterocin SE-K4 showed apparent sequence similarity to class IIa bacteriocins. Enterocin SE-K4 was active against E. faecium, E. faecalis, Bacillus subtilis, Clostridium beijerinckii, and Listeria monocytogenes. Enterocin SE-K4 is very heat stable.