ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Anandi Kavimandan
1Department of Biotechnology, Madhav Institute of Technology and Science, Gwalior – 474005, India.
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2015;9(2):1545-1572
© The Author(s). 2015
Received: 10/02/2015 | Accepted: 06/03/2015 | Published: 30/06/2015
Abstract

Enterococcus faecalis formally known as Streptococcus faecalis is the most active bacteria of genus Enterococcus. Due to its’ role as a pathogen and its’ contribution as a Lactic acid bacteria make it the topic of debate. Enterococcus faecalis is naturally present in normal microflora of gastrointestinal tract and in oral cavity of human in non fatal form. But its’ involvement in endodontic, endocarditic, pelvic and urinary tract infections make it more lethal; this is happened due to the presence of virulence factors (aggregation substance, gelatinase, cytolysin, pheromones etc.) and antibiotic resistant gene etc. It is found that in most hospital acquired infections the strains of Enterococcus faecalis are resistant to many antibiotics e.g. vancomycin, gentamycin, streptomycin, ampicillin and tetracycline but the strains resistant to Vancomycin and Ampicillin make it worse pathogens. Due to the production of biogenic amines from them, they contaminated the poultry, beef and pork products. Despite of its negative features some of its properties make it mandatory in dairy products specially in cheese e.g. Mozzarella, Cebriro, Venaco etc. due to proteolysis, lipolytic activity and citrate metabolism it can produce acetaldehyde, ethanol, diacetyl, acetone, and acetoin which increase the unique texture, flavor and aroma of cheese. The bacteriocin excreted by Enterococcus faecalis can prevent the growth of other unsafe bacteria and used as a food additives. The selection of Enterococcus faecalis should be strain depended and Enterococcus faecalis transfer their virulence train via conjugative transfer of plasmid within strains. So this review comprises the feature of Enterococcus faecalis as friend and foe.

Keywords

Enterococcus faecalis, virulence factors, enterocin, starter culture, cheese

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