Metabolism Characteristics of Lactic Acid Bacteria and the Expanding Applications in Food Industry

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria are a kind of microorganisms that can ferment carbohydrates to produce lactic acid, and are currently widely used in the fermented food industry. In recent years, with the excellent role of lactic acid bacteria in the food industry and probiotic functions, their microbial metabolic characteristics have also attracted more attention. Lactic acid bacteria can decompose macromolecular substances in food, including degradation of indigestible polysaccharides and transformation of undesirable flavor substances. Meanwhile, they can also produce a variety of products including short-chain fatty acids, amines, bacteriocins, vitamins and exopolysaccharides during metabolism. Based on the above-mentioned metabolic characteristics, lactic acid bacteria have shown a variety of expanded applications in the food industry. On the one hand, they are used to improve the flavor of fermented foods, increase the nutrition of foods, reduce harmful substances, increase shelf life, and so on. On the other hand, they can be used as probiotics to promote health in the body. This article reviews and prospects the important metabolites in the expanded application of lactic acid bacteria from the perspective of bioengineering and biotechnology.

Lactic Acid Bacteria-Fermentable Cereal- and Pseudocereal-Based Beverages

“…The content and type of carbohydrates formed depends on the cereal or pseudocereal used, the amount of water added, the thermal treatment applied during beverage preparation before fermentation, and the bacteria used for the fermentation process and process parameters [15,85,99,100]. However, the differences are mainly attributed to variations in the fermentation ability of LAB, resulting from their different biochemical activities (mainly saccharolytic activity and fermentation) [15,85,92,178].…”

“…LAB use carbohydrates as their major carbon source [178][179][180][181]. Glucose is the main energy source for living microorganisms, although some LAB also prefer fructose or lactose [181][182][183].…”

“…Raffinose is a trisaccharide with glucose, fructose, and galactose; stachyose is a tetrasaccharide composed of two galactose molecules, one fructose, and one glucose molecule; and verbascose is a pentasaccharide made up of four galactose and one fructose molecule. Several studies have confirmed the ability of LAB to ferment the oligosaccharides available in the plant matrix [36,178,187,188]. It has also been shown that LAB strains exhibit a high activity of enzymes such as αand β-galactosidases [189][190][191].…”

Fermentation products of Danshen relieved dextran sulfate sodium-induced experimental ulcerative colitis in mice

“…They could not only decompose polysaccharides that are difficult to digest into monosaccharides and lactic acid, which could promote the absorption of active substances in the intestines, but also degrade macromolecular proteins into polypeptides and amino acids, which reduced the burden of protein degradation in the intestines and stomach. In addition, the use of probiotics for fermentation could also convert unstable substances into stable derivatives for better production and utilization 26 . Thus, it is a good alternative method to make the active molecules in Danshen to have better pharmacological activity, strong stability, fat solubility and high bioavailability by biological fermentation 27 .…”

Bioprospecting Antimicrobials from Lactiplantibacillus plantarum: Key Factors Underlying Its Probiotic Action

“…In this light, L. plantarum , in reason of a flexible behaviour, is found in association with all these niches (in several cases, with a dominant character) and is largely employed as starter cultures in the food industry. Selected L. plantarum strains are used to promote and/or carry-over fermentation processes that are functional to food production addressed to human consumption [ 1 ]. For its capacity to ferment and preserve food, enhancing its sensory properties and nutritional value, L. plantarum boasts a millenary tradition of safe use and thus shares a long-lasting relationship with humans.…”