Lactobacillus curvatus, a nonstarter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB), is rapidly becoming the most prevalent NSLAB strain isolated from aged Cheddar cheese. Plasmids often carry genes that confer advantageous traits, which provide a survival advantage to the organism. Understanding the genotype of Lb. curvatus plasmids could provide important information concerning genes that provide Lb. curvatus an advantage in the cheese environment. Plasmids were isolated from 2 different strains of Lb. curvatus, WSU-1 and LFC-1. These strains were isolated from distinct geographical areas. WSU-1 contained 7 plasmids while 4 plasmids were detected in LFC-1. Similarities, at least in size, exist between the largest (40kb) and smallest (1240 bp) plasmids in both Lb. curvatus strains. The genomes of both strains have been sequenced and several putative plasmid contigs identified. These sequences were paired with similarly sized plasmids isolated from the organisms and the identified open reading frames compared. Each strain contained a plasmid, of different sizes, with nearly identical genes that coded for an anti-toxin part of a toxin-antitoxin system. Plasmid contigs also coded for cation transport proteins that could promote survival in aging cheese. Variation in plasmid profiles between the 2 Lb. curvatus strains also suggests multiple strains may be circulating in cheese plants. WSU-1 and LFC-1 strains carry a greater complement of plasmids than are typically found in dairy lactobacilli. Maintaining a large set of plasmids has a high metabolic cost to the cell, indicating these plasmids contain genes of value to the organism.