Journal of Culture Collections

Volume 3, 2000-2002

Encapsulation of lactic acid bacteria in calcium

alginate beads for bacteriocin producton

Evelina Ivanova¹, Valentina Chipeva², Iskra Ivanova¹, Xavier Dousset³ and Denis Poncelet³

¹Sofia University, Faculty of Biology, 8 Dragan Tzankov st., 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria;

²National Bank for Industrial Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, 1113 Sofia, P.O.Box 239, Bulgaria;

³ENITIAA (École National d’Ingineurs d’Techniques d’Industries Agricoles et Alimentaires),

44322 Nantes, Cedex 3, France

Summary

Investigations on encapsulation of lactic acid bacteria in alginate beads were carried out. For this purpose a bacteriocin producing strain Enterococcus faecium A 2000 was used. For the production of capsules with a small diameter (0.8-1 mm) an electrostatic generator was applied. To enhance of the capsule stability, the fermentation was performed in modified MRS medium without phosphates and with addition of CaCl_2. As a result of the immobilization the bacteriocin production was increased with approximately 50 %, compared with the batch fermentation with free cells. The immobilized cells could be reuses up to three times after filtration and re-suspension in new medium.

full text [PDF]