Isolation And Antimcirobial Activity Of Lactic Acid Bacteria Against Streptococcus Mutans

The aim of this study was to isolate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from fermented food, to determine its antibacterial activity, and to identify the LAB in order to select candidate probiotic strains for preventing caries. The probiotic strains were isolated from eight fermented food which are tapai ubi, tapai pulut, rebung, tauchu, kimchi, incalok, tempeh and tempoyak, taucu. Ten-fold serial dilutions of the fermented food samples were made in sterile peptone water before plating on de Man Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) agar. The pure cultures were then randomly picked and biochemically identified. Then, the antibacterial activity of LAB against Streptococcus mutans was assessed by using the disk diffusion method. A total of 120 LAB were isolated from eight different fermented foods. The morphologies of the isolates were circular, convex, dull opaque white or translucent white. Gram staining identification showed that the isolates were Gram-positive rods. Of the 120 LAB isolates, five strains displayed moderate to strong antibacterial activity against S. mutans with the inhibition zones ranging from 7- 12 mm. The antibacterial activity demonstrated from LAB isolated from fermented foods suggests that the isolates from fermented foods possess antibacterial properties against a pathogen which responsible for causing dental caries. These strains are currently investigated in depth to assess whether they can be fully characterized as probiotics.