Methods for Identifying and Characterizing Effective Probiotic Strains

Probiotics, which are live microorganisms that, when given in sufficient quantities, promote the host's health, have drawn a lot of interest for their ability to enhance gut health.

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Lactic acid bacteria have a long and extensive application record as probiotic strains. Lately, due to wide-spread use of molecular-genetic, transcirptomic, proteomic, metabolomic etc. studies and the massive accumulation of data on the structure and functions of symbiotic intestinal microbiota, the interest in probiotic microorganisms tends to expand year-by-year. Lactic acid bacteria were the first used probiotic species, are still of sharp market demand and have been recognized as the most thoroughly studied microbes among functional relatives. However, characteristics inherent to probiotic bacteria are strain-specific, as a rule, and for preparations with defined purpose it is essential to select special strains showing a complex of appropriate properties. It accentuates the top relevance of research aimed at selection of lactic acid bacterial strains suitable for diverse probiotic preparations. For several decades we curried out investigations to isolate strains of lactic acid bacteria from various natural sources, to characterize their properties and to derive technologies of p... Read More

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The demand for probiotics is increasing, providing opportunities for food and beverage products to incorporate and market these foods as a source of additional benefits. The most commonly used probiotics belong to the genera of

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Abstract Probiotics are live microorganisms that confer a health benefit on the host when administered in adequate amounts. Currently, seven genera are used for their probiotic’s potential. Strains having the desired characteristics are associated with plenty of health benefits. Recent literature shows that different plant and vegetable oils are associated with probiotics. Other reports indicated their various aspects. For instance, the effect of probiotics on plant-based oil, edible oil, probiotics, the use of oils for probiotics encapsulation, etc., are documented. It is also reported that probiotics from vegetable sources and plant oil have some advancements, such as vegetarian and lactose-intolerant people using them. The multidimensional association between probiotics and vegetable oils attracts researchers to explore it. This research area is growing fast, but more limited research data is needed. Hence, this literature study was performed to identify the relationship, pros, and cons and provide recent insight into the literature for the researchers. Materials were collected by... Read More

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Yeasts are gaining increasing attention for their potential health benefits as probiotics in recent years. Researchers are actively searching for new yeast strains with probiotic properties (i.e,

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Currently available references provide evidence on efficacy of probiotics strains but exclude product-specific information, making it challenging for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to provide suitable probiotic recommendations to consumers. This study describes the development and evaluation of an online probiotics e-reference database to assist HCPs in delivering evidence-based recommendations on probiotics to consumers. The database currently consists of 556 clinical studies collated through PubMed literature search, 753 probiotic products from multiple retail stores in Singapore and 5708 unique product-study links. Users can search for probiotics based on indication, product or strain. Based on a pilot evaluation by 25 pharmacists practising in hospital and retail settings, 84% agreed that the database helped in assessing the efficacy of probiotic products. All (100%) found the database easy to navigate and most (96%) would continue to use the database as an evidence-based e-reference for probiotic information.

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Probiotics have been applied to a wide range of bacteria, causing gastrointestinal and vaginal infections. However, probiotics generally possess limited antimicrobial spectra and are primarily utilized as dietary supplements. Recognizing the need for more versatile probiotics, this study focuses on isolating and characterizing strains suitable for antibiotic replacement. Among these strains,

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Probiotics are the nonpathogenic and alive bacteria that confer good effects on the host. The important property of probiotics is direct antimicrobial effects, stimulation of immunity, competing for adhesion site, completion for nutrients and improvement in digestion. Since ancient times different fermented dairy products have been used as the main source of probiotic bacteria. The main objective of this study was to isolate, identify and characterize lactic acid bacterial strains from different fermented dairy products including yoghurt, cheese, buttermilk and curd. To determine the potentials of probiotics different tests like bile tolerance, salt tolerance, acid tolerance and arginine hydrolysis were performed. In the present study it was observed that all the probiotic isolates were able to grow at low pH (2-6) and they were tolerant against NaCl (2%, 4%, 6%) and bile salt concentration (0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%). The probiotic isolates were shown to be arginine-positive as on a white background they displayed a bright orange colour. The growths of probiotic cultures were observed at dif... Read More

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Manufacturers’ desire to sell “healthy” food in response to the consumers’ desire to lead a healthy lifestyle has increased the use of probiotics during the past few decades. Probiotics are used in dairy products, as well as non-dairy items as a starter culture, encompassing a wide range of goods. Numerous phenotyping, physical characterisation, and genotyping techniques have been developed to identify probiotic lactobacilli to ensure quality management. These techniques are frequently precise enough to categorise probiotic strains by genus and species. Traditional microbiological methods were initially employed for genus and species identification. However, due to their numerous shortcomings as the probiotic ability is often strain-dependent, and that there is no way to differentiate between strains using simple microbiological techniques, new methods that are mostly based on the examination of nucleic acids have been developed. Therefore, the objective of the present review was to provide critical assessment on existing methods for identifying members of the genus Lactobacillus, to... Read More

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Probiotics, live microorganisms that confer health benefits to the host when administered in adequate amounts, have gained considerable attention for their potential in enhancing human health and well-being. This research paper presents a comprehensive overview of probiotics, including their production, characterization, types, and health benefits. The introduction emphasizes the significance of probiotics in maintaining a healthy human microbiota and provides a rationale for investigating their potential advantages. The production section details the processes involved in strain selection, isolation, and fermentation techniques for large-scale probiotic production. Furthermore, formulation considerations are discussed to ensure probiotic viability, stability, and functionality. The characterization section presents various methods for assessing probiotic viability, safety, and stability. The section on types of probiotics focuses on well-studied strains such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species, as well as emerging strains like Saccharomyces boulardii and Propionibacterium f... Read More

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Probiotics are defined as “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host”. Nowadays, the probiotic market is growing tremendously by using probiotics especially in foods, dietary supplements and pharmaceutical applications. Sometimes, the consumers get confused between probiotics and non-probiotics. A more precise use of the term “probiotics” will be useful to guide consumers and other stakeholders in differentiating the diverse products on the market. Since efficacy of probiotics is strain specific, the appropriate selection of probiotics is extremely important. This review focuses on discussing the following issues of probiotics including their major sources, selection criteria, health benefits and possible harms. The main selection criteria for probiotics include the following ability to: tolerate into a product at a sufficient level and remain viable throughout the shelf life of the product; withstand transit through a gastrointestinal tract; adhere to intestinal epithelial cells and colonize the lumen of the tract; produce a... Read More

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ProbioMinServer is a platform designed to help researchers access information on probiotics regarding a wide variety of characteristics, such as safety (e.g. antimicrobial resistance, virulence, pathogenic, plasmid, and prophage genes) and functionality (e.g. functional classes, carbohydrate-active enzyme, and metabolite gene cluster profile). Because probiotics are functional foods, their safety and functionality are a crucial part of health care. Genomics has become a crucial methodology for investigating the safety and functionality of probiotics in food and feed. This shift is primarily attributed to the growing affordability of next-generation sequencing technologies. However, no integrated platform is available for simultaneously evaluating probiotic strain safety, investigating probiotic functionality, and identifying known phylogenetically related strains.Thus, we constructed a new platform, ProbioMinServer, which incorporates these functions. ProbioMinServer accepts whole-genome sequence files in the FASTA format. If the query genome belongs to the 25 common probiotic specie... Read More

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AMA Bernatek M, Sommermeyer H, Wojtyła A, Piątek J, Lachowicz-Wiśniewska S. The factors determining effective probiotic activity – evaluation of survival and antibacterial activity of selected probiotic products: an in vitro study. Journal of Health Inequalities. 2023. doi:10.5114/jhi.2023.130528. APA Bernatek, M., Sommermeyer, H., Wojtyła, A., Piątek, J., & Lachowicz-Wiśniewska, S. (2023). The factors determining effective probiotic activity – evaluation of survival and antibacterial activity of selected probiotic products: an in vitro study. Journal of Health Inequalities. https://doi.org/10.5114/jhi.2023.130528 Chicago Bernatek, Małgorzata, Henning Sommermeyer, Andrzej Wojtyła, Jacek Piątek, and Sabina Lachowicz-Wiśniewska. 2023. "The factors determining effective probiotic activity – evaluation of survival and antibacterial activity of selected probiotic products: an in vitro study". Journal of Health Inequalities. doi:10.5114/jhi.2023.130528. Harvard Bernatek, M., Sommermeyer, H., Wojtyła, A., Piątek, J., and Lachowicz-Wiśniewska, S. (2023). The factors determining effective pro... Read More

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The significant strides made in interconnected associations between probiotics and human health have paved the way for remarkable advancements in probiotic functional foods. Probiotic foods play a pivotal role in functional food sector as leading components. In order to safeguard viability of delicate probiotics in face of various adverse conditions, there has been a surge in the development of delivery systems for probiotics. Probiotic organisms are widely recognized for their numerous health-promoting abilities. As a result, probiotics have gained significant popularity as a viable method for improving digestive and immune health. Medical professionals are increasingly recommending probiotics as effective therapeutic interventions for various health conditions. The intricate communities of microorganisms that inhabit the human gastrointestinal tract have a vital role to play in maintaining human health. Researchers have reached a consensus on the definition of probiotics and have made significant strides in comprehending their mechanisms of action. Probiotic bacteria are living non... Read More

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Probiotics have been used for decades to alleviate the negative side-effects of oral antibiotics, but our mechanistic understanding on how they work is so far incomplete. Here, we performed a metagenomic analysis of the fecal microbiota in participants who underwent a 14-d Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy with or without consumption of a multi-strain probiotic intervention (L. paracasei CNCM I-1518, L. paracasei CNCM I-3689, L. rhamnosus CNCM I-3690, and four yogurt strains) in a randomized, double-blinded, controlled clinical trial. Using a strain-level analysis for detection and metagenomic determination of replication rate, ingested strains were detected and replicated transiently in fecal samples and in the gut during and following antibiotic administration. Consumption of the fermented milk product led to a significant, although modest, improvement in the recovery of microbiota composition. Stratification of participants into two groups based on the degree to which their microbiome recovered showed i) a higher fecal abundance of the probiotic L. paracasei and L. rhamnosus... Read More

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Due to the enormous benefits for human health, probiotics have gained popularity in the current era of science and have received a lot of public interest recently. Many bacterial strains have been used as probiotics for commercial applications. For a long time, the only yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii, was referred to be a probiotic. Interest in the probiotic potential of different yeast strains has grown in recent years. The purpose of the present review is to explore the updated information on the efficacy of various yeast strains as probiotics for human welfare.

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Evaluation of Probiotic Properties of Lactobacilli in Breast Milk and Their Inhibitory Effect on Pathogenic Bacteria of the Gastrointestinal Tracts

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This review article addresses the strategic formulation of human probiotics and allows the reader to walk along the journey that metamorphoses commensal microbiota into target-based probiotics. It recapitulates what are probiotics, their history, and the main mechanisms through which probiotics exert beneficial effects on the host. It articulates how a given probiotic preparation could not be all-encompassing and how each probiotic strain has its unique repertoire of functional genes. It answers what criteria should be met to formulate probiotics intended for human use, and why certain probiotics meet ill-fate in pre-clinical and clinical trials? It communicates the reasons that taint the reputation of probiotics and cause discord between the industry, medical and scientific communities. It revisits the notion of host-adapted strains carrying niche-specific genetic modifications. Lastly, this paper emphasizes the strategic development of target-based probiotics using host-adapted microbial isolates with known molecular effectors that would serve as better candidates for bioprophylact... Read More

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Probiotic microorganisms that are potentially beneficial to the health of the host are commercially available in a great variety of products. Not all microorganism strains present in products have proven beneficial to the health properties. These products include not only foodstuffs but also dietary supplements, food for special medical purposes, medicinal products, as well as cosmetics and medical devices. These products contain from one to a dozen bacterial strains of the same or different species and sometimes also fungal strains. Since the pro-health effects of probiotics depend on a specific strain, the number of its cells in a dose, and the lack of pathogenic microorganisms, it is extremely important to control the quality of probiotics. Depending on the classification of a given product, its form, and its content of microorganisms, the correct determination of the number of microorganisms and their identification is crucial. This article describes the culture-dependent and culture-independent methods for testing the contents of probiotic microorganisms, in addition to biochemi... Read More

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Other SectionsAbstractIntroductionGetting Started–Definitions Matter!Probiotic Characterization and AssessmentSafetyMechanisms of ActionGenerating Clinical EvidenceConclusionsFinancial supportConflicts of interestReferences

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