A Synthetic Medium for Comparative Nutritional Studies of Lactobacilli

Abstract

The composition of a synthetic medium supporting the growth of lactobacilli is given (Table 1). The medium, containing glucose, amino acids, vitamins, mineral salts, purines and pyrimidines, allows the study of nutritional requirements of different strains of lactobacilli under identical environmental conditions. It was found that all the strains tested needed L‐glutamic acid, L‐valine and L‐leucine, and a group of them also required L‐arginine, L‐tyrosine and L‐tryptophan. Some strains required vitamins, e.g. L. bulgaricus (pantothenic acid), L. fermenti (pantothenic acid and niacin). These results are compared with those found by others employing different media.