Common Food Bacteria 'Could Transform Nutrition and Medicine'

Common food bacteria could be rewired to produce more vitamins—and "help to transform nutrition and medicine."

This is the discovery of scientists at Rice University who have revealed how a bacterium called Lactococcus lactis regulates the production of a key precursor in the production of vitamin K₂, which is important for bone health, vascular health and clotting factors that stop bleeding.

The bacteria create enough of this precursor to support their growth while preventing toxic buildup.

"Vitamin-producing microbes could transform nutrition and medicine, but we must first decode their inherent checks and balances," said paper author and biosciences researcher professor Caroline Ajo‑Franklin in a statement. "Our work shows how L. lactis finely tunes its internal supply of the K₂