Scope of Bacteriocins as a Viable Alternative to the Traditional Antibiotics

Microorganisms produce a remarkable array of antimicrobial substances which help them to compete in their limited environment for nutritional resources. These antimicrobial substances include broad-spectrum antibiotics, metabolic products (organic acids), lytic agents (lysozymes), various exotoxins and bacteriocins. Bacteriocins are biologically active protein moieties with a bactericidal mode of action. Over the past few decades, extensive use of antibiotics has led to the development of resistance in bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics. The infections lead prolonged hospital stays and antibiotic resistance are responsible for enormous economic and logistical burden on the health care systems [1]. For example, in the United States, the loss due to antibiotic resistance is estimated to be $US 3 billion per year, with an associated indirect loss of approximately $US 30 billion. It is estimated that 74% of the gastrointestinal infections stems from the contaminated food, with 68% of these cases involving meat products [2]. Canada’s medical community reports over 5000-7000 confirmed cases of food poisoning annually. However, it is believed that 2.3 million cases of food-borne disease actually occur every year in Canada. In turn, the financial toll of dealing with these infections has been estimated at approximately $CDN 3.7 billion [2]. As such, these properties make bacteriocins suitable and attractive for use as food bio-preservatives [3-4]. Under this circumstance there is need for the use of newer antimicrobial agents in food preservation and discovery of novel antibiotics to address this health related issue.