ABSTRACT

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is the term used for a large group of Gram-positive bacteria, which produce lactic acid as their main metabolic end product from the degradation of carbohydrates (Klaenhammer et al., 2005). Traditionally, LAB have been characterized as acid-and aero-tolerant anaerobes belonging to the Gram-positive bacterial phylum. Molecular taxonomy has revealed that LAB is a clade within the low-percentage G+C Gram-positive bacteria, which also include other Firmicutes such as Clostridium, Bacillus, Staphylococcus, and Listeria (Teuber and Geis, 2006). The LAB family is further divided into the following genera: Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Lactococcus, Enterococcus, Oenococcus, Tetragenococcus, Carnobacterium, Leuconostoc, Weissella, Pediococcus, Melissococcus, Vagococcus, Trichococcus, and Desemzia (Hammes and Hertel, 2006), where the first 10 genera are commonly used in food fermentations (Bourdichon et al., 2012).