Abstract
Bacteriocins are biologically active compounds produced by a large number of bacteria, including lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which exhibit antimicrobial activity against various saprophytic and pathogenic microorganisms. In recent decades, bacteriocins are increasingly becoming more important in different branches of the industry due to their broad antibacterial and antifungal spectrum - in the food industry for natural food preservation and expiry date extension; in the health sector for preparation of probiotic foods and beverages; in the clinical practice as alternatives of conventional antibiotics; in the agriculture as biocontrol agents of plant pathogens and alternatives of chemical pesticides for plant protection. The broad antimicrobial spectrum of bacteriocins has stimulated the research attention on their application mainly in the food industry as natural preservatives. Most scientific achievements concerning the application food biopreservation are related to bacteriocins produced by LAB. The lactic acid bacteria bacteriocins can be produced in the food substrate during its natural fermentation or can be added in the food products after obtaining byin vitrofermentations under optimal physical and chemical conditions. Moreover, the immobilization of LAB bacteriocins on different matrices of organic and inorganic origin has been proposed as an advanced approach in the natural food preservation for their specific antimicrobial activity, anti-biofilm properties and potential use as tools for pathogen detection.
Highlights
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a large group of beneficial bacteria belonging to different taxonomic groups, but unified on the basis of their shared metabolic and physiological characteristics
They are found in milk and dairy products, meat, fish and sea products, fermented vegetables, wine, bread and baked products. They are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) bacteria widely applied as starter cultures for the production of a number of fermented milk and non-milk foods and beverages
According to other classifications [8, 10] LAB bacteriocins are divided into three main groups: lantibiotics or small, heat-stable, lanthionine-containing, single- and two-peptide bacteriocins, whose inactive prepeptides are subject to extensive post-translational modification; peptide bacteriocins or small, heat-stable, non-lanthioninecontaining bacteriocins, including pediocin-like or Listeria-active bacteriocins, two-peptide bacteriocins and circular bacteriocins, and bacteriolysins or large, heat-labile, lytic proteins, often murein hydrolases
Summary
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a large group of beneficial bacteria belonging to different taxonomic groups, but unified on the basis of their shared metabolic and physiological characteristics. They are Grampositive, non-motile, non-spore forming cocci or rods, which produce lactic acid as the major metabolic end product of carbohydrate fermentation. LAB are associated with many different foods of animal and plant origin They are found in milk and dairy products, meat, fish and sea products, fermented vegetables, wine, bread and baked products. Lactic acid bacteria bacteriocins are substances of great importance for application as natural food preservatives due to their antimicrobial effects on different microorganisms, including spoilage-related microflora and food-borne pathogens [7]
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