Research Progress in the Cold Resistance of Lactic Acid Bacteria

Extremely low environmental temperature would lead the intracellular as well as the extracellular ice formation, decrease the fluidity and permeability of microbial cell membrane, cause abnormal folding of some proteins and nucleic acids in the cells and thus decrease the survival of the bacterial cells. In this paper, the effects of cold stress on membrane fluidity, protein and nucleic acid function of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are reviewed, and the strategies adopted by LAB to overcome the multiple challenges encountered in cold stress are discussed, and the methodology employed to explore the cold stress on bacteria is also summarized. Perspective research of cold resistance of LAB should highlight on genomics, targeting on the critical genes involved in the synthesis of fatty acids, to unravel the mechanism of LAB in regulating membrane lipid composition. In addition, emphasis should be focused on the flexibility of the structure of chaperones, especially those of cold shock proteins on the resistance to the producer cells under cold stress.