Table 1.

Classification of bacteriocins.

Class of Bacteriocin	Subclasses	Molecular Properties	Reference
Class I Lantibiotic	Ia Lanthipeptides Ib Globular and inflexible bacteriocins Ic Sactipeptides	Small, heat-stable bacteriocins (<5 kDa), have a post-translational modification, resulting in the formation of atypical amino acids lanthionine and methyllanthionine.	[33,36,37,38,39]
Class II Non-lantibiotic	IIa Pediocin-like IIb Two peptides IIc Leader less IId Non pediocin-like Single-peptide	Small and flexible bacteriocins (<10 kDa), with an amphiphilic helical structure. These peptides do not contain modified amino acid residues and are pH and heat-resistant.	[13,40,41,42,43,44,45,46]
Class III	IIIa Bacteriolysins IIIb Nonlytic	High molecular weight bacteriocins (>30 kDa), thermolabile and unmodified peptides.	[47,48]