ABSTRACT: Lactococcus lactis isolated from traditional dairy Indian curd. Strains were preliminarily identified by PCR analysis and partial 16S rRNA confirmed that N5 were 100% identical to Lactococcus. lactis sp. lactis. The results revealed that only the bacteriocin produced from strain N5 was shown as being active against mostly gram positive bacteria The bacteriocin produced purified by precipitation followed by loading with gel chromatography. The partially purified bacteriocin was found to be stable over a wide range of pH, temperature and enzymes. The molecular weight of the peptide was judged to be 3.5 kDa by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.and conform to the result of mass spectrometry by maldi-tof test which calculated the mass of 3354.07 Da for nisin.These results indicate that bacteriocin produced by L. lactis sp. lactis N5 is a nisin.

Keywords: Food pathogens, lactic acid bacteria, bacteriocins, nisin.