[Role of bacteriocinogeny in regulating the population dynamics of oral cavity lactobacilli]

Bacteriocinogenicity and bacteriocine sensitivity of Lactobacilli isolated from human saliva were studied. It was shown that bacteriocinogenic cultures of Lactobacilli resistant to bacteriocines produced by them probably may play some ecological role in regulation of the population dynamics because of growth inhibition of Lactobacillus sensitive cultures in the saliva, thus providing favourable selective conditions for the development of both the strains producing them and the strains resistant to bacteriocines. Bacteriocinogenic strains sensitive to bacteriocines produced by them probably played no significant role in regulation of the dynamics of Lactobacillus population in the oral cavity, since they did not inhibit the growth of half of the Lactobacillus cultures present in human saliva.