''Fructilactobacillus fructivorans'' is a

gram-positive In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. The Gram stain is ...

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

and a member of the genus '' Fructilactobacillus'' in the family

Lactobacillaceae The ''Lactobacillaceae'' are a family of lactic acid bacteria. It is the only family in the lactic acid bacteria which includes homofermentative and heterofermentative organisms; in the ''Lactobacillaceae,'' the pathway used for hexose fermentati ...

. It is found in wine, beer,

grape must Must is freshly crushed fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of the total weight of the must. Making must is the ...

, dairy,

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , ) is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferment the sugar ...

, meat, and fish. They are facultative anaerobics and experience best growth in environments with 5-10% CO₂. Temperature for growth is between 2 °C and 53 °C, with the optimum temperature between 30 °C and 40 °C and a pH level between 5.5 and 6.2. The bacterium is rod shaped and can be found in the following forms: single, pairs, chains of varying lengths, or long curved filaments. ''F. fructivorans'' is non-motile. The main end product of the metabolic process is lactate, although

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

acetate An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic, or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called ...

formate Formate (IUPAC name: methanoate) is the conjugate base of formic acid. Formate is an anion () or its derivatives such as ester of formic acid. The salts and esters are generally colorless. Fundamentals When dissolved in water, formic acid co ...

, CO₂, and

succinate Succinic acid () is a dicarboxylic acid with the chemical formula (CH2)2(CO2H)2. In living organisms, succinic acid takes the form of an anion, succinate, which has multiple biological roles as a metabolic intermediate being converted into Fuma ...

may also be produced.

Food production

The bacteria have several metabolic properties that allow them to function as starter cultures in the production of fermented dairy, meat, and vegetable products and beverages. ''F. fructivorans'' is mainly produces

lactic acid Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has the molecular formula C3H6O3. It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with water. When in the dissolved state, it forms a colorless solution. Production includes both artificial synthesis as wel ...

. Once the microbe metabolizes sugars into lactic acids, the foods and beverages develop the sour taste that is characteristic of fermented foods and beverages. While there are several types of lactobacilli that are able to convert sugars into lactic acid and CO₂, most are unable to survive alcoholic fermentation and will die off in this type of environment. ''F. fructivorans'' is one of the few species that successfully survives alcoholic fermentation and continues to grow and engage in cell multiplication afterwards.Dicks, L. M. T., and A. Endo. p. 81." It therefore plays an important role in the production of

fermented beverage This is a list of fermented foods, which are foods produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms. In this context, Fermentation in food processing, fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to ethanol, alcohol using yeas ...

s such as wine, beer,

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

and cider, yogurt, cheese,

kimchi Kimchi (; ) is a traditional Korean side dish (''banchan'') consisting of salted and fermented vegetables, most often napa cabbage or Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including '' gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), ...

pickled vegetables Pickling is the process of food preservation, preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either Anaerobic organism, anaerobic fermentation (food), fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects t ...

sourdough bread Sourdough is a type of bread that uses the fermentation, fermentation by naturally occurring yeast and lactobacillaceae, lactobacillus bacteria to raise the dough. In addition to leavening the bread, the fermentation process produces lactic acid ...

and

. In addition, the microbe is often found in meat and fish products and is responsible for spoilage of canned fruit.

References

Dicks, L. M. T., and A. Endo. 2009. "Taxonomic Status of Lactic Acid Bacteria in Wine and Key Characteristics to Differentiate Species." S. Afr. J. Enol. Vitic. Vol. 30. No. 1 Nam, S.-H., S.-H. Choi, A. Kang, K. S. Lee, D.-W. Kim, R. N. Kim, D.-S. Kim, and H.-S. Park. "Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus Fructivorans KCTC 3543." Journal of Bacteriology 194.8 (2012): 2111-112. Web.

External links

Type strain of ''Lactobacillus fructivorans''
at Bac''Dive'' - the

Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase Bac''Dive'' (The Bacterial Diversity Database) is the worldwide largest database for standardized bacterial and archaeal strain-level information. Bac''Dive'' is a comprehensive resource containing diverse data on bacterial and archaeal strains, ...

Food production

References

External links

See also