ABSTRACT
Lactic acid bacteria are a broad set of industrially important, harmless microorganisms that are mostly employed as starter cultures and probiotics, and are also being explored in industrial biotechnology production systems. Lactic acid bacteria can convert carbohydrate substrates into organic acids (mostly lactic acid) by fermentation and produce a variety of metabolites that enhance the sensory and nutritional qualities of food, as well as produce various antimicrobial components, extending the shelf life of food products. These are usually exploited as potential food preservatives and as microbial cell factories due to their intriguing positive qualities. Exploring lactic acid bacteria in newly undiscovered habitats may result in the discovery of novel species or strains with technologically important attributes. The production of improved strains has been facilitated by the availability of genome sequences and genetic tools for metabolic engineering and CRISPR systems are providing a technical breakthrough in the genome editing of lactic acid bacteria due to their high efficiency, simplicity and diversity. Various technologies, like pulsed electric fields, microwave, ultraviolet radiations and power ultrasounds have received a great deal of interest for their prospective applications in the food industry, and at a non-lethal level, such advances have the potential to improve a variety of operations, such as better microbial activity and fermentation processes, along with altered metabolic properties of lactic acid bacteria. The prospective applications of lactic acid bacteria as food preservatives along with their antibacterial and antifungal properties are described in this chapter, in addition to different biotechnological interventions that have resulted in the development of various improved LAB strains.
