Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2014) 3(12): 924-949 924 Review Article Applications of bacteriocins in food, livestock health and medicine Léo D. Bemena 1 , Lulu A. Mohamed 1 , António Maximiano Fernandes 2 and Byong H. Lee1 3 * 1 Key laboratory of carbohydrate, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China 214122 2 State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Synergetic Innovation Center of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 7214122, China 3 Department of Food Science /Agricultural Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H9X3V9 *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Antibiotics have been used as therapeutic and prophylactic treatments to control a variety of bacterial infections in livestock since their discovery in the half of 19 th century. Therefore, the continuous uses of these antibiotics led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistance in many bacteria relevant for animal and public health stresses (Diez-Gonzalez 2007; Mantovani et al. 2011). Several alternative approaches using probiotic bacteria were undertaken to control animal and foodborne pathogenic bacteria in livestock, but many of the beneficial effects of probiotics and the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 3 Number 12 (2014) pp. 924-949 http://www.ijcmas.com Increase of bacterial antibiotic resistance is a major cause for animal and public health stresses globally. Many bacteriocins and bacteriocins producing probiotic bacteria show potential for biotechnological, food and agro-industrial applications. The current global response to these useful bacteriocins needs to be improved by genetic or metabolic engineering. Due to the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance and adverse effects provoked by a number of antibiotics, bacteriocins have been applied in several fields: human health, food industry, animal health, and medicine, in particular as a substitution for the traditional growth promoters, antibiotics. The use of bacteriocins became an universal trend well over in 50 countries since their first discovery. Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) bacterocins are likely used because of their “safe” (GRAS) status, especially in food industry as bio-preservatives. Among these LAB bacteriocins, commercially marketed, nisin groups produced by Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and pediocins produced by Pediococcus sp. are the most characterized by their antilisterian property. Despite the widespread use in foods, their applications in livestock and medicine have been largely limited and further investigations are necessary. Keywords Bacteriocins, Nisin, Pediocin, Food, Livestock, Medicine, Quorum sensing, Metabolic engineering