Abstract:Salt-tolerant lactic acid bacteria (LAB) derived from food resources are generally safe and tolerant to stress. Studying their probiotic and fermentation characteristics is of great significance for finding novel functional strains that can be used for food fermentation. Probiotic characteristics including antimicrobial activity, antioxidant capacity and tolerance to gastric acid, bile salts and lysozyme of 5 strains of salt-tolerant LAB from soy sauce moromi were investigated in this study. Their resistance to freeze-drying and high temperature conditions were also investigated and the synergistic ability of the 5 strains in high-salt liquid-state soy sauce fermentation was evaluated. The results showed that 5 strains of LAB could grow under low salinity (50 g/L) and had good tolerance to medium and high salinity (100 g/L and 150 g/L). These salt-tolerant LAB strains showed low hydrophobicity and could inhibit pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. These strains have good antioxidant capacity. Among them, the tolerance of Pediococcus acidilactici ZQ1 and Pediococcus acidilactici WT1 to gastric acid, bile salts and lysozyme are higher than that of Pediococcus pentosaceus WT6, Weissella paramesenteroides JL-5, Weissella paramesenteroides LCW-28, as well as the control strain Lactiplantibacillus plantarum JP31. In addition, the survival rate of P. acidilactici WT1 after freeze-drying treatment was the highest (85%) and the survival rate of this strain at 60 ℃ was 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of L. plantarum JP31. P. acidilactici WT1 increased the mass concentrations of amino acid nitrogen and organic acids in soy sauce by 11.03% and 34.42%, respectively, through synergistic fermentation. The results of this study preliminarily confirm the probiotic properties of food-derived salt-tolerant LAB and their potential applications in soy sauce fermentation.