Although L. plantarum has been identified
as part of the meat microbiota and is used as
starter cultures for meat fermentation, this
species lacks the specifi c adaptation to meat
environment found in L. sakei. L. plantarum
is a highly versatile bacterium, frequently
encountered in a variety of different environ
ments, such as vegetable and dairy fermen
tation and the gastrointestinal tract of
warm - blooded animals. The metabolic and
environmental flexibility of this organism is
reflected by the size of its genome, 3.3 Mb
(Kleerebezem et al. 2003 ), which is the