Japanese pickling vegetables “Tsukemono” are a main component of Japanese cuisine. Pickles were first produced in ancient times as a means of preserving food, and over the years became an important part oi the basic Japanese meal. The vegetables most commonly pickled in Japan are Chinese cabbage, radish (daikon), radish greens, cucumber, carrots, turnips and Japanese eggplant. Pickles offer color, texture and aroma to a meal. Pickles are crisp and fresh, with small amounts of several varieties usually served in individual petite dishes.
Lactic acid bacteria of fermented vegetables (e. g., “Suguki-dzukeh” or “Shiba-dzukeh”from Kyoto)are either Gram-positive aerobic or facultatively anaerobic organisms and are salt resistant. The growth of leuconoctocs occurred constantly regardless of fermentation temperature (early fermentation), but at higher temperatures, the growth of lactobacilli occurred along with the sporadic growth of lactic streptococci and pediococci (late fermentation). The growth of these communities in late fermentaion was not essential to traditional fermented vegetables production, and was attenuated by alteration of temperature. Among the lactic acid bacteria, the dominant species was Leuconostoc mesenteroides at low temperature, and Lactobacillus plantarum at higher temperatures. The more temperature was increased, the more organic acids were produced. Acid production could be divided into two phases: most organic acids formed during the first phase were products of L. mesenteroides at every temperature and organic acids formed during the second phase were products of L. plantarum. Salt was the most important limiting factor, because fermented vegetables cannot be made without salt. The optimum concentration of salt for the growth of lactic acid bacteria was found to be in the range 2∼3 %.

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Plant origin Lactic Acid Bacteria (POLAB), lactic acid bacteria associated with the fermentation of plant-materials, are discussed in this paper.
If we mention about dairy fermented foods, we automatically think of yogurt, cheese, and LAB drink. These fermented foods were originated from Europe and West Asia, and mainly produced from milk which fermented by lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The author called “dairy LAB” for L AB concerning in the dairy fermented foods. The beneficially of dairy LAB for human health have been studied intensively in Europe and America.
Whereas, in Japanese traditional fermented foods, plant origin are almost used as the raw materials. The well known fermented foods, such as Sake (alcohol beverage from rice), Miso (soybe an paste), and Shoyu (soy-sauce) are made from rice and soybeans. In the three mentioned above fermented foods, beside of molds and yeasts, LAB (L. sakei and Leuc. mesenteroides, Tetragenoco c cus halophilus) have also participate in the fermentation. Tsukemono (fermented vegetab les with salt), which consumed daily in various parts of Japan, LAB (L. plantarum, L. brevis, Leu. mesenteroides, etc. ) mainly have an important role for souring vegetables. Tsukemono is known as a food to promote Japanese health from long time ago. Moreover, as peculiar fermented drink, Awa-banch a and Goishi-cha (fermented tea leaves without salt in a big tub for ten days) produced in mountain area of Shikoku Island (Japan) were known as healthy foods in this area. It is recorded that large amount of Awa-bancha and Goishi-cha were consumed for long time in Japan. From the recent our researches, it is interesting that only L. plantarum equipped with DAP-peptidoglycan in cell wall participate in th e fermentation of these tea leaves because they can survive from tannic acids containing in the leave s. However, LAB equipped with Lys-peptidoglycan in cell wall unable to survive in this condition.
In conclusion, traditionally, Japanese did not have any dairy fermented foods, but only had p lant materials fermented foods which benefit for health for long time. Therefore, the author empha s ize that “plant origin lactic acid bacteria”, which are associated with the fermentation of plant materials, have been important role for human health.
The author consider following distinguish char a c teristics of POLAB
-Compare with dairy LAB, POLAB are able to grow in environment with poor nutrition.
-POLAB are able to survive from various inhibitory compounds produced by micr o o rganisms inhabit in plants.
POL A B are useful for probiotics, the fermentation of agriculture biomass to collect lactic acid, and the biopreservative of raw-eating vegetables.

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Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) which produce reuterin, a low molecular weight antimicrobial substance, were screened by incubating LAB cells with glycerol in an anaerorobical system. Among the 148 strains of LAB tested, Lactobacillus coryniformis 394 displayed the highest ability to produce reuterin. This strain produced a mixture of reuterin and the corresponding hydrate form which were identified by ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectrum analyses. Highest amount of reuterin was produced in a glycerol solution containing 0.5% CaCO₃ at 25°C under anaerobic conditions. Reuterin from L. coryniformis 394 strongly inhibited the growth of fungi, yeast and various strains of bacteria but showed no inhibitory effect on LAB.

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Eighty strains of homofermentative tetrad-forming lactic acid bacteria were isolated from fish sauce fermentation in Thailand. These bacteria were divided into three groups based on the phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics including DNA relatedness. Forty strains (Group I)showed high degrees (70.0% to 109.1%) DNA-DNA homology with Tetragenococcus halophilus ATCC 33315. They were identified as T. halophilus. Thirty-eight strains (Group II) showed high degrees (70.9% to 105.6%) of DNA-DNA homology with Tetragenococcus muriaticus JCM 10006. They were identified as T. muriaticus. Two strains (Group III) showed low degrees (3.7% to 16.3%)of DNA-DNA homology with T. halophilus ATCC 33315, T. muriaticus JCM 10006, and Aerococcus uiridans TISTR 393. Then they were left unidentified. Group I and Group II strains are halophilic which grew in 25% NaCl. All the strains tested produced L-lactic acid and contained cellular fatty acids with C18: 1 as the major component. Some of the selected strains produced histamine ranging from 0.04 to 52.29mg/100 ml. The differentiation of Tetragenococcus strains is discussed.

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