Degradation of organic acids by dairy lactic acid bacteria.

One hundred and twelve different strains of lactic acid bacteria, belonging to the genera Leuconostoc, Streptococcus, and Lactobacillus, were examined for the ability to degrade 10 organic acids by detecting gas production, using the conventional Durham tube method. All the strains did not break down succinate, glutarate, 2-oxo-glutarate, and mucate. Malate, citrate, pyruvate, fumarate, tartrate, and gluconate were variably attacked. Streptococcus cremoiris AM2, ML8, and SK11 required glucose to produce gas from citrate, whereas Leuconostoc citrovorum and Streptococcus faecalis did not. Streptococcus cremoris differed from the other streptococci in not producing gas from gluconate. From all lactic acid bacteria examined, only Lactobacillus plantarum formed gas from tartarate. Determination of acetoin and diacetyl proved to be a more reliable evidence for assessing the degradation of pyruvate, compared with detection of gas production. Homofermentative lactobacilli and Leuconostoc citrovorum produced acetoin and diacetyl from pyruvate, whereas beta-bacteria did not, a character that would be of taxonomic value. Streptobacteria degraded pyruvate in the presence of glucose with lactate as the major product together with a mean acetate of 4.1%, ethanol 7.9%, acetoin 1.7%, and diacetyl 2.6% yield on a molar basis after 60 days at 30 degrees C. L. brevis produced acetate and lactate. Formation of diacetyl from pyruvate by lactic acid bacteria may play an important role in flavour development in fermenting dairy products, especially in cheese, where lactic acid bacteria usually predominate, and pyruvate is probably excreted in the breaking down of lactose and in the oxidative deamination of alanine by the accompanying microflora.