Heterologous expression of biopreservative bacteriocins with a view to low cost production

Bacteriocins, a heterogenous group of antibacterial ribosomally synthesized peptides, have potential as bio-preservatives in in a wide range of foods and as future therapeutics for the inhibition of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. While many bacteriocins have been characterized, several factors limit their production in large quantities, a requirement to make them commercially viable for food or pharma applications. The identification of new bacteriocins by database mining has been promising, but their potential is difficult to evaluate in the absence of suitable expression systems. E. coli has been used as a heterologous host to produce recombinant proteins for decades and has an extensive set of expression vectors and strains available. Here, we review the different expression systems for bacteriocin production using this host and identify the most important features to guarantee successful production of a range of bacteriocins.