from pediococcus pentosaceus isolated from Kurdai

Abstract

Kurdai is a traditional fermented whole wheat snack food, native to Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat. The microbes responsible for kurdai fermentation have been successfully isolated and identified as Leuconostoc lactis, Pedicoccus pentosaceus, Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus hominis, Klebsiella pneumonia and Lactobacillus plantarum. Pedicoccus pentosaceus one of microbes responsible for kurdai fermentation were identified. In the present work, Pedicoccus pentosaceus was explored for the production of pediocin which is a Class II bacteriocin produced by lactic acid bacteria, because they are heat stable and non-modified lantibiotics. Bacteriocins have been drawing the attention of the food industry because of their increased specificity and effectiveness at low concentrations in order to prevent the development of pathogens. The activity of pediocin was evaluated using various commercial strains as indicators such as Escherichia coli MTCC 40, Bacillus cereus MTCC 1272, Leuconostoc mesenteroides NCIM 2198, Lactobacillus fermentum NCIM 2165 and Lactobacillus helveticus NCIM 2733. It was shown that the highest pediocin activity was expressed against Lactobacillus helveticus NCIM 2733 with 4.89 + 0.13 Activity Units (AU)/mL being produced. Pediocin production was then optimized by controlling the incubation time, temperature seed age, inoculum density and initial pH of the growth media.