ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Rawan Hassan Alshahrani, Mona Othman I. Albureikan and
Nidal Mohammed Zabermawi
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), P.O. Box 21589, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Article Number: 10290 | © The Author(s). 2025
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2025;19(3):2087-2098. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.19.3.35
Received: 05 February 2025 | Accepted: 15 July 2025 | Published online: 30 August 2025
Issue online: September 2025
Abstract

In fermented foods, lactic acid bacteria are important for flavor enhancement, preservation, and pathogen control via the production of antimicrobial compounds, such as bacteriocins. This study aimed to isolate and characterize lactic acid bacteria from cheese that can produce bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances and to evaluate their antibacterial activity against foodborne pathogens. Lactic acid bacteria were isolated from two cheese samples using de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe agar and were preliminarily identified through phenotypic and biochemical tests, including Gram staining and carbohydrate fermentation. Antibacterial activity was tested using live cells (cell culture), cell-free supernatants (CFS), and neutralized CFS against Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Listeria monocytogenes using the agar well diffusion method. Seven lactic acid bacterial strains were gram-positive, rod-shaped, catalase-negative, and showed a positive reaction to the methyl red test. The results showed strong inhibition of E. coli and S. Typhimurium, moderate inhibition of K. pneumoniae, and no inhibition of L. monocytogenes. The strongest antibacterial activity was observed with lactic acid bacteria cultures, followed by CFS and neutralized CFS. Bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances-producing strains were identified as Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus, Lactiplantibacillus pentosus, and Lentilactobacillus parabuchneri. These findings emphasize the potential of lactic acid bacteria as natural antimicrobial agents and bio-preservatives, providing a promising strategy for enhancing safety and reducing foodborne pathogens in foods.

Keywords

Lactic Acid Bacteria, Bacteriocin-like Inhibitory Substances (BLIS), Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus, Lactiplantibacillus pentosus, Lentilactobacillus parabuchneri, Antagonistic LAB effects

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© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.