Investigation of the ability of dairy nonstarter lactic acid bacteria to grow using cell lysates of other lactic acid bacteria as the exclusive source of nutrients

A new device named a cell sonicated substrate membrane system (CSSMS), consisting of a tissue culture insert that supplies nutrients, in the form of starter lactic acid bacteria (SLAB) lysate extract, through a polycarbonate membrane which isolates it from the nonstarter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB) inoculum and serves as a support for bacterial growth, was developed. The CSSMS was used to demonstrate that the Lactobacillus helveticus SLAB lysate provides sufficient nutrients to allow the growth of L. casei and L. rhamnosus NSLAB in vitro. The results support the hypothesis that NSLAB could grow in aged cheese using only SLAB cell lysate as nutrients. © 2014 Society of Dairy Technology.