Bioactive Compounds of Lactic Acid Bacteria. Case Study: Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Bacteriocin- producing Lactobacilli Isolated from Native Ecological Niches of Ecuador

Food preservation through natural methods represents one of the concerns world‐ wide to solve economic losses due to microbial decomposition of raw materials and foodstuffs. However, public concern over the emergence of strains resistant to many antibiotics, particularly pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella sp. draw much attention as new challenge in food industry is to find new alternative quality-control methods of food products. In Ecuador, the lack of quality control, bad storage condition, and insufficient preservation against spoilage bacteria had at higher extent repercussions on food safety and security. The most frequent pathogens detected in fresh meat and drinks along with traditional local food products, represent a serious problem producing sizable food damage and associated diseases. The capacity of lactobacilli to inhibit pathogens has been recently exploited to prevent microbial spoilage. Here we briefly review the principal biopeptides (i.e., bacteriocins) of lactic acid bacteria, their main mode of action, the classification, and its biotechnological applications. Moreover, we discussed the preliminary results on the evaluation of antimicrobial activity of some native lactic acid bacteria isolated from microbiota of Ecuador against frequent contaminants found in the local market.