User:Lactococcuslactis/sandbox

L.lactis is mainly isolated from either the dairy environment or plant material. Dairy isolates are suggested to have evolved from plant isolates through a process in which genes without benefit in the rich medium milk were either lost or down-regulated .. This process, also called genome erosion or reductive evolution is also described in several other lactic acid bacteria. The proposed transition from the plant to the dairy environment was reproduced in the laboratory through experimental evolution of a plant isolate that was cultivated in milk for a prolonged period. Consistent with the results from comparative genomics (see references above) this resulted in L. lactis losing or down-regulating genes which are dispensable in milk and the up-regulation of peptide transport.