Abstract
Recently, it has become possible to sequence the bacterial genome in a short time and the genome data of bacteria has rapidly increased as a result of the improved performance of sequencers and computers. At the time of writing (May 2007), 19 complete genome sequences of non-pathogenic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) representing 14 species from the order Lactobacillales are available. The comparative genomic analysis of LAB might elucidate new functions in species/strains. Furthermore, transcriptome analysis using microarrays has been applied to the study of LAB. The LAB genome data is an important resource for obtaining new knowledge.
