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The Development Of Pediococcus Species As Starters For Mozzarella Cheese, Shelby L. Caldwell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bacteriophage infection of Streptococcus thermophilus is a growing concern in the mozzarella cheese industry. One method to control this problem may be to replace S. thermophilus with a starter coccus from a different genus of lactic acid bacteria. This work evaluated the possibility of using genetically modified Pediococcus spp. for this approach. Electroporation was used to introduce genes for lactose utilization from Lactococcus lactis into strains of P. acidilactici and P. pentosaceus. The resulting lactose-positive transformants, P. acidilactici SAL and P. pentosaceus SPL-2, rapidly reduced the pH of lactose broth, accumulated [¹⁴C]lactose at a rate higher than …