Abstract
Many fermented foods are known to have beneficial effects on human and animal health, offering anti-aging and immunomodulatory benefits to host. Microorganisms contained in the fermented foods are known to provide metabolic products possibly improving host health. However, despite of a number of studies on the functional effects of the fermented foods, isolation and identification of the effective bacterial strains in the products are still in progress. The objective of this study was to isolate candidate functional strains in various Korean traditional fermented foods, including ganjang, gochujang, doenjang, and jeotgal, and evaluate their beneficial effects on the host, using Caenorhabditis elegans as a surrogate animal model. Among the 30 strains isolated, five Bacillus spp. were selected that increased the expression level of pmk-1, an innate immune gene of C. elegans. These strains extended the nematode lifespan and showed intestinal adhesion to the host. Based on the bioinformatic analyses of whole genome sequences and pangenomes, the five strains of Bacillus subtilis were genetically different from the strains found in East Asian countries and previously reported strains isolated from Korean fermented foods. Our findings suggest that the newly isolated B. subtilis strains can be a good candidate for probiotic with further in-depth investigation on health benefits and safety.
Highlights
With increased consumer interest in functional foods, the food industry has experienced innovative and economic expansion [1]
One of the beneficial effect of probiotics on host as a living organism is to improve the intestinal microbial balance, implementing that they must be able to survive at the low pH and with bile salts of the gastrointestinal environment [24]
To conduct primary screening of potential probiotic strains in vitro, we evaluated the acid and bile tolerances of the bacterial strains isolated from Korean traditional foods
Summary
With increased consumer interest in functional foods, the food industry has experienced innovative and economic expansion [1]. A number of studies have reported that functional foods provide benefits to host health functions and anti-aging by enhancing host immunity [2]. These health-promoting functions can be further increased by microbes that propagate during the process of food fermentation [3]. The WHO has defined probiotics as “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host” [7]. Probiotics are known to improve gut microbial balance, strengthen the immune system, and reduce specific cancer risk and have anti-aging effects [8,9,10]
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