Charakterisierung einiger Bacteriocine im Hinblick auf mögliche Anwendungen im Lebensmittelbereich. 1. Mitt. Stammauswahl

Characterization of some bacteriocins with regard to possible applications in food industry. Part 1. Selection of strains. The ability to produce bacteriocins is common in all genera of lactic acid bacteria. Thirty-four out of 223 strains of lactic acid bacteria from the culture collection of the University Potsdam produced bacteriocins active against one or more indicator strains. Seventeen Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains, frequent occur as spoilage bacteria in food industry, were chosen as indicator strains, and 11 of them were inhibited by one or several bacteriocin producers. Most of the bacteriocin producers belong to the genera Enterococcus or Lactobacillus. Bacteriocins derived from Enterococcus faecium and Pediococcus acidilactici exhibited the widest inhibitory spectrum. The properties of Enterococcus faecium 10.051 and Enterococcus faecium 10.211 bacteriocins were further investigated to evaluate their potential use as natural food preservatives. The bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecium 10.211 exhibited a very wide inhibitory spectrum against food-spoiling strains. It was heat stable (100 °C for 60 min) and stable in a wide range of pH (1.2–10.0). The bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecium 10.051 showed a smaller inhibitory spectrum, and it was less stable against temperature and pH as the bacteriocin from strain 10.211. Both bacteriocins were inactivated by proteinase K. pronase E, and α-chymotrypsin. Bacteriocin from strain 10.211 will be the object of further investigations for application of bacteriocins in food industry.