Isolation, collection, and characterization of lactic acid bacteria, and development of lactic acid bacteria beverages with functional properties.

In this study, lactic acid bacteria were primarily collected from plant sources, and a bacterial library was constructed. To avoid duplicate isolates, the collected bacteria were classified by restriction enzyme cleavage polymorphism analysis of 16S rDNA. Most of the strains grew poorly in milk, with the exception of Lactococcus lactis, which showed good fermentability in milk, leading to the selection of L. lactis SIY8. Strain SIY8 exhibited a pronounced ability to induce interleukin 12. Furthermore, when strain SIY8 was cocultured with L. delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus, the growth of the latter was promoted in the fermentation of milk. The resultant fermented milk had a higher free amino acid content than regular yogurt, potentially influencing its taste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]