Bacteriocins are the group of antimicrobial peptides synthesized by certain groups of bacterial species. A bacteriocin-producing bacterial strain of Rhizobium leguminosarum DM 20 was isolated from leguminous plant. The produced bacteriocin was found to exert its antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus, a significant food spoiling pathogen. The molecular interaction between bacteriocin and enterotoxin protein of Staphylococcus aureus depicted the effectiveness of the former produced against the pathogen. With the aim to enhance the production of bacteriocin, the main three parameters, namely temperature, pH and cultivation time, were optimized. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied for the optimization process instead of the conventional “one-at-a-time” method. It was found that the observed values were about 15–18% higher than that of expected ones. Artificial neural network (ANN) was also applied for conforming the optimization model.

细菌素是由某些细菌种类合成的一组抗菌肽。从豆科植物中分离得到一株产生细菌素的豆科植物根瘤菌DM 20。发现产生的细菌素对金黄色葡萄球菌（一种重要的食品腐败病原体）发挥抗菌作用。金黄色葡萄球菌细菌素与肠毒素蛋白的分子相互作用描述了前者对病原体的有效性。为了提高细菌素的产量，对温度、pH值和培养时间这三个主要参数进行了优化。响应面方法 (RSM) 被应用于优化过程，而不是传统的“一次一个”方法。发现观测值比预期值高约 15-18%。人工神经网络（ANN）也被应用于符合优化模型。