Bakteriocini kot alternativa za konzervanse in antibiotike - Ferlan, Tadeja (T. Ferlan, 2018)
Bakteriocini so protimikrobne snovi proteinske narave, ki jih proizvajajo nekatere bakterije in običajno delujejo proti sorodnim bakterijskim vrstam. Njihova heterogenost se kaže v spektru delovanja, molekulski teži, post-translacijskih spremembah, kemijski strukturi, biokemijskih lastnostih ter načinih delovanja. Zaradi odkrivanja vedno novih bakteriocinov ter njihove heterogenosti se pojavlja tudi potreba po novi klasifikaciji, zaenkrat pa jih lahko razdelimo v štiri razrede. Preučevanje bakteriocinov je pokazalo veliko možnosti za njihovo uporabo pri konzerviranju živil ter na področju zdravljenja bakterijskih okužb. Za uporabo v živilskih izdelkih so najbolj proučeni bakteriocini iz skupine pediocinov, lakticinov in enterocinov. Najbolj raziskovan in uporabljen bakteriocin je nizin, ki se ga danes že uporablja pri konzerviranju mlečnih, mesnih ter nekaterih drugih proizvodov. Možnosti za uporabo bakteriocinov se kažejo tudi pri konzerviranju živil rastlinskega izvora ter pri konzerviranju rib ter morskih sadežev. Ker bakteriocini sami ne morejo zagotoviti popolnoma varnega živila se jih kombinira z drugimi oblikami konzerviranja oziroma se raziskuje, kako bi njihovo delovanje lahko izboljšali z nanodelci in genskim inženiringom. Bakteriocini kažejo inhibitorno delovanje proti različnim povzročiteljem bolezni, v nekaterih primerih se njihovo delovanje izboljša ob uporabi skupaj s konvencionalnimi antibiotiki. Bacteriocins are proteinaceous antimicrobials produced by some bacteria species and they usually possess antimicrobial activity directed towards closely related bacterial species. They are diverse in activity spectrum, molecular mass, posttranslation modifications, chemical structure, biochemical properties and mechanisms of acting. Because bacteriocins are so diverse and many new bacteriocins are discovered, a new classification scheme is needed, but so far, they can be classified into four groups. Research of bacteriocins showed that many applications in food preservation and infections treatment are possible. Applications of pediocins, lactacins and enterocins in food products have been studied many times. Nisin is the most studied bacteriocin and is being used in milk, meat and other type of products. It is also possible to use bacteriocins as preservatives in vegetable, fish and seafood products. Because bacteriocins alone cannot guarantee safe products a combination of them and other techniques for food preservation are being used and techniques of gene engineering and nanoparticles are being tested to improve their activity. Bacteriocins are showing inhibitory action against many pathogen bacteria and in some cases their activity is increased when used with conventional antibiotics.