Microbe Profile: The Lactobacillaceae

Abstract

The bacterial family Lactobacillaceae (the lactobacilli) occupy a unique role in microbiology due to their beneficial role in both human cultural history and biology, from the food preservation of hunter gatherers-turned-farmers, through the prevention of scurvy in seafarers exploring new worlds, and the health-promoting properties of species that colonize the human body as well as animals that are important for agriculture and pollination. The almost bewildering phenotypic and genomic complexity of the former genus Lactobacillus was recently reconciled with molecular taxonomy and phylogeny to establish robust genera comprising the Lactobacillaceae, whose main features are summarized in this Microbe Profile.