Lactic acid microorganism

Cells of microorganisms have constituted a portion of human food siace ancient times. Yeast-leavened baked products contain the residual nutrients from the yeast cells destroyed duriag bakiag (see Bakery processes and leavening agents). Cultured dairy products, such as yogurt, buttermilk, and sour cream, contain up to lO cells of lactic acid bacteria per gram (19) (see Milk and milkproducts). Other examples of fermented foods consumed siace early times iaclude fermented meats, fish, and soybean products. 

Commercial Alcoholic beverages Sauerkraut Pickles Cheeses Lactic acid Various yeasts, molds, and bacteria L. plantatum plus other bacteria L. plantaixim plus other bacteria Propionibacteria, molds, and possibly many other microorganisms Two lactobacillus species... 

Lactic acid in the vagina gives it an acidic pH (5.0) which together with other products of metabohsm inhibits colonization by most bacteria, except some lactobacilli, which constitute the commensal flora. Other types of baeteria are unable to establish themselves in the vagina unless they have become extremely specialized. These species of microorganism tend to be associated with venereal infeetions. 

Bacteria occur normally in fresh fruit and vegetable tissues. A wide variety of microorganisms have been found on fresh fruits and vegetables, which include mesophilic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, coliforms, and yeasts and molds (Nguyen-The and... 

Schillinger U and Holzapfel WH. 2006. Lactic acid bacteria. In De W. Blackburn C, editor. Food Spoilage Microorganisms. Cambridge Woodhead, pp. 541-578. 

The application of near-IR spectroscopy for real-time monitoring of glucose, lactic acid, acetic acid and biomass in liquid cultures of microorganisms of the genera Lactobacillus and Staphylococcus has been recently published [76]. The NIR spectrum acquired by the optical-fibre probe immersed in the culture is exploited using a partial least squares (PLS) calibration step, a classical method for IR techniques. 

Microorganisms have also been developed to produce alternative products, such as lactic acid [65], propane-1,3-diol [67], 3-hydroxypropionic acid [68], butane-2,3-diol [69] and numerous other intermediates. For instance, bacteria such as the Clostridium acetobutylicum ferment free sugars to C4 oxygenates such as butyric acid or butanol. They form the C4 oxygenates by Aldol condensation of the acetaldehyde intermediates. The Weizmann process exploits this property to ferment starch feedstock anaerobically at 37 °C to produce a mixture of w-butanol, acetone and ethanol in a volume ratio of 70 25 5 [3],... 

Modern methods of livestock production are intensive and the environmental conditions stress the animals. The use of antibiotics promotes growth and protects the animals from otherwise certain infection under these conditions. Antibiotic-like compounds formed in lactic acid fermentations prevent proliferation of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms and increase the shelf life of the products. Nisin is a antimicrobial produced by a lactic acid bacterium and is used in some countries as a food preservative. Some lactic acid bacteria are capable of favorably influencing the fecal flora in man and animals. 

Enantiomers have very similar chemical properties, but they rotate polarized light in opposite directions (optical activity, see pp. 36,58). The same applies to the enantiomers of lactic acid. The dextrorotatory L-lactic acid occurs in animal muscle and blood, while the D form produced by microorganisms is found in milk products, for example (see p.l48). The Fischer projection is often used to represent the formulas for chiral centers (cf.p. 58). 

In addition, the antibiotics and other bacteriocins were originally detected in lactic acid bacteria, but were later also found in other Gram-positive microorganisms [28]. Lactic acid bacteria are a group of non-spore-forming, anaerobic fermentative bacteria within the Gram-positives with low GC content. 

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