ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF LACTIC ACID BACTERIAL ISOLATES

Abstract

Micro-organisms have tendency to produce antimicrobial substances which show biological activity against other kind of micro-organisms. This phenomenon of bacterial antagonism is observed in lactic acid bacteria with competitive advantages. The lactic acid bacteria are commonly present in many fermented products, fruits and milk products. The variety of antimicrobial substances produced by lactic acid bacteria showing good inhibition capacity include production of lactic acid, acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, carbon dioxide, diacetyl and bacteriocin. Bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria are the subject of intense research because of their antimicrobial activity against food born bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes, staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium botulinum and several others .Bacteriocins may be bacteriostatic or bactericidal with narrow or broad range of activity. The main of the study was to study the antimicrobial activity of such lactic acid bacterial isolates.