Lactobacillus delbrueckii subspecies bulgaricus (until 1984 known as
Lactobacillus bulgaricus) is one of several bacteria used for the production of yogurt. It is also found in other naturally fermented products. First identified in 1905 by the
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
n doctor
Stamen GrigorovStamen Grigorov was a prominent Bulgarian physician.Stamen Grigorov was born in the village of Studen Izvor , Tran Region, Bulgaria. He completed his secondary education in natural sciences in Montpellier, France and medical science in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1905, at the age of 27, Dr...
, it is named after
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
. It is a
Gram-positiveGram-positive bacteria are those that are stained dark blue or violet by Gram staining. This is in contrast to Gram-negative bacteria, which cannot retain the crystal violet stain, instead taking up the counterstain and appearing red or pink...
rod that may appear long and filamentous. It is also non-motile, and it does not form spores.
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Lactobacillus delbrueckii subspecies bulgaricus (until 1984 known as
Lactobacillus bulgaricus) is one of several bacteria used for the production of yogurt. It is also found in other naturally fermented products. First identified in 1905 by the
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
n doctor
Stamen GrigorovStamen Grigorov was a prominent Bulgarian physician.Stamen Grigorov was born in the village of Studen Izvor , Tran Region, Bulgaria. He completed his secondary education in natural sciences in Montpellier, France and medical science in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1905, at the age of 27, Dr...
, it is named after
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
. It is a
Gram-positiveGram-positive bacteria are those that are stained dark blue or violet by Gram staining. This is in contrast to Gram-negative bacteria, which cannot retain the crystal violet stain, instead taking up the counterstain and appearing red or pink...
rod that may appear long and filamentous. It is also non-motile, and it does not form spores. This bacterium is regarded as aciduric or acidphilic, since it requires a low pH (around 5.4-4.6) in order to grow effectively.
The bacterium has complex nutritional requirements, including the inability to ferment any sugar except for
lactoseLactose is a sugar that is found most notably in milk. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of milk , although the amount varies among species and individuals. It is extracted from sweet or sour whey...
, from which it produces
lactic acidLactic acid , also known as milk acid, is a chemical compound that plays a role in several biochemical processes. It was first isolated in 1780 by a Swedish chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, and is a carboxylic acid with a chemical formula of C
3H
6O
3...
, which helps to preserve yogurt. It is often helpful to sufferers of
lactose intoleranceLactose intolerance is the inability to metabolize lactose, a sugar found in milk and other dairy products, because the required enzyme lactase is absent in the intestinal system or its availability is lowered. It is estimated that 75% of adults worldwide show some decrease in lactase activity...
, whose digestive systems lack the
enzymeEnzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, called the products. Almost all processes in a biological cell need enzymes to occur at...
s to break down lactose to simpler sugars. While fermenting milk, it produces
acetaldehydeAcetaldehyde is an organic chemical compound with the formula CH3CHO or MeCHO. It is a flammable liquid. Acetaldehyde occurs naturally in ripe fruit, coffee, and bread, and is produced by plants as part of their normal metabolism...
, which is one of the main yogurt aroma components.
Some of the biggest importers of the bacterium are
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the
EUThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
.
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