Structural and biosynthetic diversity of plantaricins from Lactiplantibacillus.

Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) produces an antimicrobial peptide known as plantaricin. Plantaricin-producing
L. plantarum is of interest for its gut-friendly nature, wide range of sugar utilization, palatability, and probiotic attributes,
making it a better candidate for the food industry. Numerous strains of plantaricin-producing L. plantarum have been isolated
from different ecological niches and found to follow different mechanisms for plantaricin production. The mechanism of
plantaricin production is sensitive to environmental factors; therefore, any alteration in the optimum conditions can inhibit/
halt bacteriocin production. To regain the lost or hidden plantaricin-producing character of the L. plantarum strains under
ideal laboratory conditions, it is essential to understand the mechanism of plantaricin production. Previously, discrete information
on various mechanisms of plantaricin production has been elaborated. However, based on the literature analysis, we
observed that a systematic classification of plantaricins produced by L. plantarum is not explored. Hence, we aim to collect
information about rapidly emerging plantaricins and distribute them among the different classes of bacteriocin, followed by
classifying them based on different mechanisms of plantaricin production. This may help scaleup the bacteriocin production
at industrial levels, which is otherwise challenging to achieve. This will also help the reader understand plantaricins and
their mechanism of plantaricin production to a deeper extent and to characterize/reproduce the peptide where plantaricin
production is a hidden character.