Lactobacillus acidophilus Metabolizes Dietary Plant Glucosides and Externalizes Their Bioactive Phytochemicals

Abstract

Therapeutically active glycosylated phytochemicals are ubiquitous in the human diet. The human gut microbiota (HGM) modulates the bioactivities of these compounds, which consequently affect host physiology and microbiota composition. Despite a significant impact on human health, the key players and the underpinning mechanisms of this interplay remain uncharacterized. Here, we demonstrate the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus on mono- and diglucosyl dietary plant glycosides (PGs) possessing small aromatic aglycones. Transcriptional analysis revealed the upregulation of host interaction genes and identified two loci that encode phosphotransferase system (PTS) transporters and phospho-β-glucosidases, which mediate the uptake and deglucosylation of these compounds, respectively. Inactivating these transport and hydrolysis genes abolished or severely reduced growth on PG, establishing the specificity of the loci to distinct groups of PGs. Following intracellular deglucosylation, the aglycones of PGs are externalized, rendering them available for absorption by the host or for further modification by other microbiota taxa. The PG utilization loci are conserved in L. acidophilus and closely related lactobacilli, in correlation with versatile growth on these compounds. Growth on the tested PG appeared more common among human gut lactobacilli than among counterparts from other ecologic niches. The PGs that supported the growth of L. acidophilus were utilized poorly or not at all by other common HGM strains, underscoring the metabolic specialization of L. acidophilus. These findings highlight the role of human gut L. acidophilus and select lactobacilli in the bioconversion of glycoconjugated phytochemicals, which is likely to have an important impact on the HGM and human host.

The effects of probiotic cultures on the organic acid content, texture profile and sensory attributes of Tulum cheese

“…Lactobacillus acidophil us cultures can easily grow in the presence of lactose and glucose, and produce acid (Theilmann et al . ). Formic acid levels increased in all the cheese samples during the 60‐day storage and then decreased to 1.33–1.40 mg/g at the end of storage ( P > 0.05; Table ).…”

An 1,4-α-glucosyltransferase defines a new maltodextrin catabolism scheme inLactobacillus acidophilus

“…The adaptation of L. acidophilus NCFM to the small intestine, which is rich in dietary carbohydrates, is highlighted by the numerous carbohydrate specific transporters and intracellular carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes, http://www.cazy.org/; (12)) encoded by this bacterium. The genetic and molecular basis for the high saccharolytic capacity of L. acidophilus NCFM has been explored for a range of non-digestible di- and oligosaccharides (13, 14) as well as plant glycosides (15).…”

Deletion of S-Layer Associated Ig-Like Domain Protein Disrupts the Lactobacillus acidophilus Cell Surface

“…Total RNA was isolated using a Zymo Direct-Zol RNA Miniprep kit (Zymo Research) as per manufacturer's instructions, followed by a Turbo DNAse (Thermo Fisher Scientific) treatment and further purification using an RNA Clean and Concentrator-5 kit (Zymo Research). The RNA quality was verified using an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA), while the absence of genomic DNA was confirmed with PCR using L. acidophilus NCFM-specific primers (Theilmann et al, 2017). Library preparation and RNA sequencing were conducted by the High-Throughput Sequencing and Genotyping Unit of the Roy J.…”