Probiotic activity traits in vitro and production of antimicrobial peptides by Lactobacillaceae isolates from pulque using Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM as control.

The objective of this work was to determine in vitro probiotic activity traits of 11 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains isolated from pulque obtained from three different locations in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Puebla using the probiotic strain Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM as a positive control, and to detect their production of antimicrobial peptides, including bacteriocins and peptidoglycan hydrolases (PGH). The LAB isolates were identified by sequencing of their 16S rRNA as belonging to four different genera of the Lactobacillaceae family: Lactiplantibacillus, Levilactobacillus, Lacticaseibacillus and Liquorilactobacillus, corresponding to the species plantarum, brevis, paracasei and ghanensis, respectively. Most of the strains showed resistance to high acidity (pH 2) and bile salts (0.5%), with survival rates up to 87 and 92%, respectively. In addition, most of the strains presented good antimicrobial activity against the foodborne pathogens Listeria monocytogenes, ECEC and Salmonella Typhi. The strain Liquorilactobacillus ghanensis RVG6, newly reported in pulque, presented an outstanding overall performance on the probiotic activity tests. In terms of their probiotic activity traits assessed in this work, the strains compared positively with the control L. acidophilus NCFM, which is a very-well documented probiotic strain. For the antimicrobial peptide studies, four strains presented bacteriocin-like mediated antibiosis and six had significant PGH activity, with two strains presenting outstanding overall antimicrobial peptide production: Lacticaseibacillus paracasei RVG3 and Levilactobacillus brevis UTMB2. The probiotic performance of the isolates was mainly dependent on strain specificity. The results obtained in this work can foster the revalorization of pulque as a functional natural product.

Selection of lactic acid bacteria with promising probiotic aptitudes from fruit and ability to survive in different food matrices.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are among the most prevalent microorganisms forming the autochthonous microbiota of fruit. This study aimed to select LAB isolates with probiotic aptitudes from apple, banana, grape, and orange through evaluation of in vitro safety, technological, and functional-related properties. The ability of most promising selected isolates to survive in commercial apple and orange juice, meat stew, vegetable puree, and UHT milk during 28 days of refrigeration storage was evaluated. Ninety-three isolates identified preliminarily as LAB were recovered from fruit and 66 of these isolates passed safety tests. Most of these isolates were pre-identified as belonging to Lactobacillus or Enterococcus genus based on MALDI-ToF MS profiling. These 66 isolates were categorized into three homogeneous groups based on a preliminary cluster analysis run with data from experiments to measure technological characteristics. Nine LAB isolates were selected as the most promising for probiotic use based on a principal component analysis run with data from experiments to measure probiotic-related properties. Four of these isolates were sensitive to different antibiotics and identified (16S-rRNA gene sequencing) as Lactobacillus brevis (recently reclassified as L. brevis) or Lactobacillus spp. These 4 selected isolates had high viable counts and high percentages of physiologically active cells in apple and orange juice, beef stew, vegetable puree, and UHT milk during refrigeration storage. The results showed that apple, banana, orange, and grape are potential sources of LAB with aptitudes to be exploited for a possible probiotic use and distinguished abilities to survive in different food matrices.

Predominance of Lactobacillus plantarum Strains in Peruvian Amazonian Fruits.

The objective of this research was the identification and characterization of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from Peruvian Amazonian fruits. Thirty-seven isolates were obtained from diverse Amazonian fruits. Molecular characterization of the isolates was performed by ARDRA, 16S-23S ITS RFLP and rep-PCR using GTG5 primers. Identification was carried out by sequencing the 16S rDNA gene. Phenotypic characterization included nutritional, physiological and antimicrobial resistance tests. Molecular characterization by Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA) and 16S-23S ITS RFLP resulted in four restriction profiles while GTG5 analysis showed 14 banding patterns. Based on the 16S rDNA gene sequence, the isolates were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum (75.7%), Weissella cibaria (13.5%), Lactobacillus brevis (8.1%), and Weissella confusa (2.7%). Phenotypic characterization showed that most of the isolates were homofermentative bacilli, able to ferment glucose, maltose, cellobiose, and fructose and grow in a broad range of temperatures and pH. The isolates were highly susceptible to ampicillin, amoxicillin, clindamycin, chloramphenicol, erythromicyn, penicillin, and tetracycline and showed great resistance to kanamycin, gentamycin, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, and vancomycin. No proteolytic or amylolytic activity was detected. L. plantarum strains produce lactic acid in higher concentrations and Weissella strains produce exopolymers only from sucrose. Molecular methods allowed to accurately identify the LAB isolates from the Peruvian Amazonian fruits, while phenotypic methods provided information about their metabolism, physiology and other characteristics that may be useful in future biotechnological processes. Further research will focus especially on the study of L. plantarum strains.The objective of this research was the identification and characterization of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from Peruvian Amazonian fruits. Thirty-seven isolates were obtained from diverse Amazonian fruits. Molecular characterization of the isolates was performed by ARDRA, 16S-23S ITS RFLP and rep-PCR using GTG5 primers. Identification was carried out by sequencing the 16S rDNA gene. Phenotypic characterization included nutritional, physiological and antimicrobial resistance tests. Molecular characterization by Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA) and 16S-23S ITS RFLP resulted in four restriction profiles while GTG5 analysis showed 14 banding patterns. Based on the 16S rDNA gene sequence, the isolates were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum (75.7%), Weissella cibaria (13.5%), Lactobacillus brevis (8.1%), and Weissella confusa (2.7%). Phenotypic characterization showed that most of the isolates were homofermentative bacilli, able to ferment glucose, maltose, cellobiose, and fructose and grow in a broad range of temperatures and pH. The isolates were highly susceptible to ampicillin, amoxicillin, clindamycin, chloramphenicol, erythromicyn, penicillin, and tetracycline and showed great resistance to kanamycin, gentamycin, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, and vancomycin. No proteolytic or amylolytic activity was detected. L. plantarum strains produce lactic acid in higher concentrations and Weissella strains produce exopolymers only from sucrose. Molecular methods allowed to accurately identify the LAB isolates from the Peruvian Amazonian fruits, while phenotypic methods provided information about their metabolism, physiology and other characteristics that may be useful in future biotechnological processes. Further research will focus especially on the study of L. plantarum strains.

Development of a propidium monoazide-polymerase chain reaction assay for detection of viable Lactobacillus brevis in beer

ABSTRACT The spoilage of beer by bacteria is of great concern to the brewer as this can lead to turbidity and abnormal flavors. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for detection of beer-spoilage bacteria is highly specific and provides results much faster than traditional microbiology techniques. However, one of the drawbacks is the inability to differentiate between live and dead cells. In this paper, the combination of propidium monoazide (PMA) pretreatment and conventional PCR had been described. The established PMA-PCR identified beer spoilage Lactobacillus brevis based not on their identity, but on the presence of horA gene which we show to be highly correlated with the ability of beer spoilage LAB to grow in beer. The results suggested that the use of 30 µg/mL or less of PMA did not inhibit the PCR amplification of DNA derived from viable L. brevis cells. The minimum amount of PMA to completely inhibit the PCR amplification of DNA derived from dead L. brevis cells was 2.0 µg/mL. The detection limit of PMA-PCR assay described here was found to be 10 colony forming units (CFU)/reaction for the horA gene. Moreover, the horA-specific PMA-PCR assays were subjected to 18 reference isolates, representing 100% specificity with no false positive amplification observed. Overall the use of horA-specific PMA-PCR allows for a substantial reduction in the time required for detection of potential beer spoilage L. brevis and efficiently differentiates between viable and nonviable cells.

Development of a propidium monoazide-polymerase chain reaction assay for detection of viable Lactobacillus brevis in beer.

The spoilage of beer by bacteria is of great concern to the brewer as this can lead to turbidity and abnormal flavors. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for detection of beer-spoilage bacteria is highly specific and provides results much faster than traditional microbiology techniques. However, one of the drawbacks is the inability to differentiate between live and dead cells. In this paper, the combination of propidium monoazide (PMA) pretreatment and conventional PCR had been described. The established PMA-PCR identified beer spoilage Lactobacillus brevis based not on their identity, but on the presence of horA gene which we show to be highly correlated with the ability of beer spoilage LAB to grow in beer. The results suggested that the use of 30µg/mL or less of PMA did not inhibit the PCR amplification of DNA derived from viable L. brevis cells. The minimum amount of PMA to completely inhibit the PCR amplification of DNA derived from dead L. brevis cells was 2.0µg/mL. The detection limit of PMA-PCR assay described here was found to be 10 colony forming units (CFU)/reaction for the horA gene. Moreover, the horA-specific PMA-PCR assays were subjected to 18 reference isolates, representing 100% specificity with no false positive amplification observed. Overall the use of horA-specific PMA-PCR allows for a substantial reduction in the time required for detection of potential beer spoilage L. brevis and efficiently differentiates between viable and nonviable cells.

Tight controlled expression and secretion of Lactobacillus brevis SlpA in Lactococcus lactis.

Prokaryotes commonly present outer cell wall structures composed of a crystalline array of proteinaceous subunits, known as surface layers (S-layers). The ORF encoding the S-layer protein (SlpA) of Lactobacillus brevis was cloned into Lactococcus lactis under the transcriptional control of the xylose-inducible expression system (XIES). SlpA was secreted into the extracellular medium, as determined by immunoblotting, and assays on the kinetics of SlpA production revealed that repression of the system with glucose did not require the depletion of xylose from the medium that allows transitory ORF expression. The successful use of XIES to express S-layer proteins in the versatile and generally recognized as safe species L. lactis opens new possibilities for an efficient production and isolation of SlpA S-layer protein for its various applications in biotechnology and importantly as an antigen-carrying vehicle.

Culture-independent analysis of lactic acid bacteria diversity associated with mezcal fermentation.

Mezcal is an alcoholic beverage obtained from the distillation of fermented juices of cooked Agave spp. plant stalks (agave must), and each region in Mexico with denomination of origin uses defined Agave species to prepare mezcal with unique organoleptic characteristics. During fermentation to produce mezcal in the state of Tamaulipas, not only alcohol-producing yeasts are involved, but also a lactic acid bacterial community that has not been characterized yet. In order to address this lack of knowledge on this traditional Mexican beverage, we performed a DGGE-16S rRNA analysis of the lactic acid bacterial diversity and metabolite accumulation during the fermentation of a typical agave must that is rustically produced in San Carlos County (Tamaulipas, Mexico). The analysis of metabolite production indicated a short but important malolactic fermentation stage not previously described for mezcal. The denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of the 16S rRNA genes showed a distinctive lactic acid bacterial community composed mainly of Pediococcus parvulus, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus composti, Lactobacillus parabuchneri, and Lactobacillus plantarum. Some atypical genera such as Weissella and Bacillus were also found in the residual must. Our results suggest that the lactic acid bacteria could strongly be implicated in the organoleptic attributes of this traditional Mexican distilled beverage.