Identification and classification of beneficial microbes is of the highest significance in food science and related industries. Conventional phenotypic approaches pose many challenges, and they may misidentify a target, limiting their use. Genotyping tools show comparatively better prospects, and they are widely used for distinguishing microorganisms. The techniques already employed in genotyping of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are slightly different from one another, and each tool has its own advantages and disadvantages. This review paper compiles the comprehensive details of several fingerprinting tools that have been used for identifying and characterizing LAB at the species, sub-species, and strain levels. Notably, most of these approaches are based on restriction digestion, amplification using polymerase chain reaction, and sequencing. Nowadays, DNA sequencing technologies have made considerable progress in terms of cost, throughput, and methodology. A research journey to develop improved versions of generally applicable and economically viable tools for fingerprinting analysis is ongoing globally.

有益微生物的鉴定和分类在食品科学和相关行业中具有最高意义。传统的表型方法带来了许多挑战，并且它们可能会错误地确定目标，从而限制了其使用。基因分型工具显示出相对较好的前景，并且被广泛用于区分微生物。乳酸菌（LAB）的基因分型中已经采用的技术彼此之间略有不同，并且每种工具都有其自身的优缺点。这篇综述文章汇编了几种指纹识别工具的全面详细信息，这些指纹识别工具已用于在物种，亚物种和菌株水平上鉴定和表征LAB。值得注意的是，这些方法大多数基于限制性酶切，使用聚合酶链反应的扩增和测序。如今，DNA测序技术在成本，通量和方法学方面取得了长足的进步。全球范围内正在进行一项研究之旅，以开发用于指纹分析的普遍适用且经济上可行的工具的改进版本。