Timely approaches to identify probiotic species of the genus Lactobacillus

Abstract

Over the past decades the use of probiotics in food has increased largely due to the manufacturer’s interest in placing “healthy” food on the market based on the consumer’s ambitions to live healthy. Due to this trend, health benefits of products containing probiotic strains such as lactobacilli are promoted and probiotic strains have been established in many different products with their numbers increasing steadily. Probiotics are used as starter cultures in dairy products such as cheese or yoghurts and in addition they are also utilized in non-dairy products such as fermented vegetables, fermented meat and pharmaceuticals, thereby, covering a large variety of products.To assure quality management, several pheno-, physico- and genotyping methods have been established to unambiguously identify probiotic lactobacilli. These methods are often specific enough to identify the probiotic strains at genus and species levels. However, the probiotic ability is often strain dependent and it is impossible to distinguish strains by basic microbiological methods.Therefore, this review aims to critically summarize and evaluate conventional identification methods for the genus Lactobacillus, complemented by techniques that are currently being developed.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 in Fermented Rice Pudding Supplemented with Short Chain Inulin, Long Chain Inulin, and Oat as a Novel Functional Food

“…Probiotic products need to contain at least 10 6 colony-forming units (CFU) per gram for the duration of the product's shelf life in order to transfer beneficial effects to the host [10]. Acid production by probiotic culture, oxygen permeability through the package, and physical condition of product storage can decrease the viability and sensory characteristics of a probiotic product before the end of its shelf life [11,12]. In this study, L. rhamnosus GR-1 was the technological starter culture used to ferment the rice pudding samples.…”

Comparative Genomics Reveals Biomarkers to Identify Lactobacillus Species

“…Use of Lactobacillus to control canine intestinal infections is an interesting proposal [13]. Lactobacillus is an economically important organism, especially as bioactive molecules, probiotic, preservative, fermentation and maturation of the sausages, milk products [14][15][16][17][18]. The dominance of Lactobacillus species such as L. iners, L. jensenii, L. gasseri, and L. crispatus in the vaginal region acts as a barrier for invasion of pathogenic bacteria and virus.…”

“…Comparison of information deduced from sequenced genomes of Lactobacillus ruminis ATCC 27782 (2.06 Mb) isolated from bovine and L. ruminis strain, ATCC 25644 (2.138 Mb), isolated from human with L. salivarius core proteins showed that Lactobacillus species are categorized into 4 phylogenetically distinguishable groups [42]. Proteomics studies have proved helpful in identifying 6 proteins which can be used as biomarkers for selecting their probiotic potential since they are responsible for responding to bile salt and adaptation in L. plantarum [16]. Information on how Lactobacillus casei might have undergone diversity to adapt to the environment has been elucidated through completely sequencing its genome [39].…”

Metabolism and physiology of Lactobacilli: a review

“…It can also be isolated from beverages and foods such as wine, milk, kefir, meat, fruit, vegetables, cereals and dairy products, mainly in yogurts and cheeses (Pál et al, 2012;Herbel et al, 2013;Barrangou et al, 2012).…”

“…The genus Lactobacillus is characterized by the low G + C content (guanine and cytosine -33 to 52%) in the genome. They are carbohydrate fermenting microorganisms, and lactic acid is the major final product of this metabolism (Cai et al, 2012;Herbel et al, 2013).…”