ABSTRACT
Members of the genus Lactobacillus are anaerobic or aerotolerant, rod-shaped, gram-positive bacteria. Lactobacilli have been part of the normal human diet since the early days of humanity, when the lack of means for preservation meant that much of the stored food became naturally fermented. The discovery that some Lactobacillus strains can utilize the human milk oligosaccharides as a carbon source instigated further research on bovine milk oligosaccharides as human milk is unlikely to be commercially exploitable for its oligosaccharides. The genus Lactobacillus is a heterogeneous group of microaerophilic, gram-positive, non-spore-forming bacteria. Lactobacilli are of substantial importance to humans; they are essential members of a healthy human microbiota at various niches and serve as technologically, biologically, and functionally important components of a healthy human diet. In general, Lactobacillus species exhibit low proteolytic activity, but species and strain differences are remarkable and proteolytic activity of lactobacilli is important, for example, from the perspective of dairy technology.
