Short communication: Comparison of growth kinetics at different temperatures of Streptococcus macedonicus and Streptococcus thermophilus strains of dairy origin

Within the genus Streptococcus, S. thermophilus and S. macedonicus are the 2 known species related to foods. Streptococci are widely used as starter cultures to rapidly lower milk pH. As S. macedonicus has been introduced quite recently, much less information is available on its technological potential.

Because temperature is an important factor in fermented food production, we compared the growth kinetics over 24 of 8 S. thermophilus and 7 S. macedonicus strains isolated from various dairy environments in Italy, at 4 temperatures, 30 degrees C, 34 degrees C, 37 degrees C and 42 degrees C. We used the Gompertz model to estimate the 3 main growth parameters; namely, lag phase duration (lambda), maximum growth rate (mu(max)), and maximum cell number at the stationary phase (N-max).

Our results showed significant differences in average growth kinetics between the 2 species. Among the strains tested, 37 degrees C appeared to be the optimal temperature for the growth of both species, particularly for S. macedonicus strains, which showed mean shorter lag phases and higher cell numbers compared with S. thermophilus.

Overall, the growth curves of S. macedonicus strains were more similar to each other whereas S. thermophilus strains grew very differently. These results help to better define and compare technological characteristics of the 2 species, in view of the potential use of S. macedonicus in place of S. thermophilus in selected technological applications.