Abstract

The main purpose of this work is to give an overview on the effect of different chemical (media composition) and physical (temperature, agitation) factors on bacteriocin production by some strains of lactococci, lactobacilli and pediococci. Thus, the effects of key variables including the culture pH as well as the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous sources in single and combined experiments in different culture media are presented. In some cases, the effects of these variables on bacteriocin production are presented in graphs to illustrate more clearly the results obtained by different researchers. Examples of the main advantages of using other fermentation techniques (fed-batch, continuous) different to the batch mode for bacteriocin production are also shown. This review offers important information that could be used to optimize bacteriocin production by different lactic acid bacteria in different culture media. This could contribute to reduce the production cost of these antibacterial compounds as a previous step to their use as preservatives in food industry and in the pharmaceutical and veterinary areas.

Keywords: Bacteriocins, carbon source, lactobacilli, lactoccocci, nitrogen source, pediococci, pH drop, phosphorous source.