A Plasmid-Encoded Surface Polysaccharide Partly Blocks Ceduovirus Infection in Lactococci

Bacteriophages (or phages) remain the leading cause of failure in dairy fermentations. Thereby, phage-resistant <i>Lactococcus lactis</i> and <i>Lactococcus cremoris</i> dairy starters are in continuous demand. In this work, our goal was to identify phage defense mechanisms against ceduoviruses encoded by two wild isolates of dairy origin named <i>L. lactis</i> IPLA517 and IPLA1064. These strains were previously subjected to experimental evolution to select derivatives that are resistant to the bacteriocin Lcn972. It was observed that the Lcn972^R derivatives became sensitive to phage infection; however, the underlying mechanism was not defined. The long-read sequencing technologies applied in this work reveal that all of the Lcn972^R derivatives shared the loss of a 41 kb endogenous plasmid (p41) that harbors a putative exopolysaccharide (EPS) gene cluster with significant homology to one described in <i>Lactococcus garvieae</i>. Using a CRISPR-Cas9-based approach, p41 was selectively cured from <i>L. lactis</i> IPLA1064. Phage infection assays with three ceduoviruses demonstrated that curing p41 restored phage sensitivity at levels comparable to the Lcn972^R-IPLA1064 derivatives. Phage adsorption to Δp41 cells was also increased, consistent with the hypothesis of EPS production hindering access to the phage receptor protein Pip. Our results reinforce the role of EPSs in protecting <i>Lactococcus</i> against phage infection, a phenomenon that is rarely reported for ceduoviruses. Moreover, the results also exemplify the likely horizontal gene transfer that can occur between <i>L. lactis</i> and <i>L. garvieae</i> in a dairy environment.