Bacteriophages of lactic acid bacteria and their impact on milk fermentations

Abstract

Every biotechnology process that relies on the use of bacteria to make a product or to overproduce a molecule may, at some time, struggle with the presence of virulent phages. For example, phages are the primary cause of fermentation failure in the milk transformation industry. This review focuses on the recent scientific advances in the field of lactic acid bacteria phage research. Three specific topics, namely, the sources of contamination, the detection methods and the control procedures will be discussed. © 2011 Garneau and Moineau; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.