The Bacteriocins

The Bacteriocins.

Bacteriocins, spite and virulence.

There has been much interest in using social evolution theory to predict the damage to a host from parasite infection, termed parasite virulence. Most of this work has focused on how high kinship between the parasites infecting a host can select for more prudent exploitation of the host, leading to a negative relationship between virulence and parasite kinship. However, it has also been shown t...

Bacteriocins: Promising Natural Antimicrobials

Bacteriocins are described as ribosomally synthesized small poly peptides that exert antimicrobial effects against closely or non-closely related bacteria. The major producer group for bacteriocins is lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that contain a great variety of microorganisms described as “generally recognized as safe (GRAS)” by the US Food and Drug Administration. Due to this accredited safety p...

Marine Bacteriocins: A Review

Like all organisms in nature, bacteria too have their own immune system and defense mechanisms. The antagonistic factors like antibiotics, bacteriocins, lysozymes, siderophores, proteases, and/or hydrogen peroxide and the alteration of pH values by organic acids produced either singly or in combination act as defense substances. Bacteriocins are potent antimicrobial peptides and proteins, found...

The continuing story of class IIa bacteriocins.

Many bacteria produce antimicrobial peptides, which are also referred to as peptide bacteriocins. The class IIa bacteriocins, often designated pediocin-like bacteriocins, constitute the most dominant group of antimicrobial peptides produced by lactic acid bacteria. The bacteriocins that belong to this class are structurally related and kill target cells by membrane permeabilization. Despite the...