Lactobacillus casei

Lactobacillus casei is a rod-shaped Gram- positive bacterium. It belongs to the smaller Lactobacillus species and grows in the form of shorter or longer rods, usually with rounded corners and an average size of 0.9 microns in diameter and 2 microns in length. They are usually solitary or in pairs, rarely in short chains before.

Growth optimum lies at about 30 ° C whether growth at 15 and 45 ° C is possible, is given by different authors. The growth in milk is very slow, the proteolytic activity is high and homofermentative lactic acid fermentation, up to 1.5% lactic acid are formed. In this case, a mixture of L- and D-lactic acid is produced with substantially predominant portion of the L-shape. You can break down many carbohydrates, including melezitose, but not melibiose and xylose. Gluconate but not glucose can be fermented to lactic acid gas production.

Medical importance and use

Lactobacillus casei is one of the bacteria that occur naturally in the digestive tract of mammals. It could be shown that the consumption of fermented by L. casei dairy products can lead to protection against Salmonella typhimurium infections and diarrheal diseases. A positive effect of recording live cultures has not yet been demonstrated. In the vaginal Lactobacillus casei usually does not matter, and usually occurs only after bacterial vaginosis on in detectable amounts.

During cheese production, Lactobacillus casei plays in the production of hard and semi-hard cheese a big role, but is often not specifically added as sufficiently pass through contamination during processing mostly bacteria in the milk. The species can also occasionally occur as contaminants in bottled beverages, where it degrades the high sucrose concentrations and leads to turbidity, sediment and loss of quality.

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