Abstract: This study aimed to investigate whether and how pgm, fba, and gap overexpression can affect the stress resistance, adhesiveness, and biofilm formation of Lactobacillus plantarum LR-1. Results showed that the overexpression of the pgm and fba genes enhanced the heat, acid and bile salt resistance, biofilm formation and adhesiveness of L. plantarum LR-1. The transcriptional level of the gap gene had no significant effect on the stress resistance, biofilm formation or adhesiveness. The up-regulation of pgm, fba, and gap increased the transcriptional levels of tuf and luxS in this strain with the first two being more effective than the last one. Furthermore, bioinformatic analyses suggested that pgm and fba could be associated with genes related to multiple pathways. These results provide a new understanding of the role of glycolytic pathway-related genes in regulating the stress resistance, adhesiveness, and biofilm formation of L. plantarum.

Key words: Lactobacillus plantarum; glycolysis; stress resistance; adhesiveness; biofilm formation; bioinformatic analysis