Physiological Roles of Short-Chain and Long-Chain Menaquinones (Vitamin K2) in .

and are well known for their occurrence and applications in dairy fermentations, but their niche extends to a range of natural and food production environments. and produce MKs (vitamin K2), mainly as the long-chain forms represented by MK-9 and MK-8, and a detectable number of short-chain forms represented by MK-3. The physiological significance of the different MK forms in the lifestyle of these bacterial species has not been investigated extensively.