I.

SUMMARY
LAB: a group of Gram (+) bacteria united by a constellation of morphological, metabolic,
and physiological characteristics
- Gram (+)
- nonsporing, nonrespiring
- cocci or rods
- produce lactic acid as the major end product during fermentation of carbohydrates
Boundaries of LAB:
- (controversy) historically genera Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, and
Streptococcus form the core (most importance) of the group.
- From a practical, food-technology point of view: Aerococcus, Carnobacterium,
Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, Oenococcus, Pediococcus,
Streptococcus, Tetragenococcus, Vagococcus, Weissella and the genuine Bifidobacterium
- Bifidobacterium: phylogenetically unrelated, a unique mode of sugar fermentation
- Broad physiological definition: 20 genera
I. SUMMARY
The classification of lactic acid bacteria into different genera:
- Morphology
- Mode of glucose (Carbohydrates?) fermentation
- Differences in growth temperatures, salinity, pH
- Configuration of the lactic acid produced
- Chemotaxonomic markers: fatty acid composition, cell wall constituents
- Phylogenetic relationships: 16S rRNA, PCR-based fingerprinting techniques.
- Most genera form phylogenetically distinct groups, however Lactobacillus and
Pediococcus, the phylogenetic clusters do not correlate with the current classification
based on phenotypic characters.
- Soluble protein patterns
I. SUMMARY
Mode of sugar fermentation: two main pathways
- Glycolysis (Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway) (homolactic fermentation):
lactic acid is almost exclusively the end product under standard conditions.
- 6-phosphogluconate/phosphoketolase pathway (heterolactic fermentation):
lactic acid and significant amounts of other end products such as ethanol,
acetate, and CO2.
- Various growth conditions alter significantly the end product
formation due to altered pyruvate metabolism and/or the use of
external electron acceptors such as oxygen, in both a respiratory and
a non-respiratory mode, or organic compounds.
- Proton-motive force?
II. GENERAL INTRODUCTION