Abstract
Background: The World Health Organization defines probiotics as "live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host". In this framework, probiotic strains should be regarded as safe for human and animal consumption, i.e., they should possess the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status, notified by the local authorities. Consistently, strains of selected Bifidobacterium species are extensively used as probiotic agents to prevent and ameliorate a broad spectrum of human and/or animal gastrointestinal disorders. Even though probiotic properties are often genus- or species-associated, strain-level differences in the genetic features conferring individual probiotic properties to commercialized bifidobacterial strains have not been investigated in detail. Methods: In this study, we built a genomic database named Integrated Probiotic DataBase (IPDB), whose first iteration consists of common bifidobacterial strains used in probiotic products for which public genome sequences were available, such as members of B. longum subsp. longum, B. longum subsp. infantis, B. bifidum, B. breve, and B. animalis subsp. lactis taxa. Furthermore, the IPDB was exploited to perform comparative genome analyses focused on genetic factors conferring structural, functional, and chemical features predicted to be involved in microbe-host and microbe-microbe interactions. Results and conclusion: Our analyses revealed strain-level genetic differences, underlining the importance of inspecting the strain-specific and outcome-specific efficacy of probiotics. In this context, IPDB represents a valuable resource for obtaining genetic information of well-established bifidobacterial probiotic strains.
Highlights
The widely accepted definition of probiotics as “live microorganisms that when administered in adequate amounts confer a beneficial health effect on the host” was given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization in 2001[1]
Integrated Probiotic DataBase (IPDB) represents a valuable resource for obtaining genetic information of well-established bifidobacterial probiotic strains
Bifidobacterial strain names from labels of commercially available probiotic products were identified based on comprehensive scientific literature research, and all associated publicly available genomes were retrieved from National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) [Table 1]
Summary
The widely accepted definition of probiotics as “live microorganisms that when administered in adequate amounts confer a beneficial health effect on the host” was given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization in 2001[1]. Several members of the Bifidobacterium genus recognized as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) are widely and extensively included as live components in commercial probiotic products, either alone or in multi-strain formulations[7,8]. In this context, despite bifidobacterial probiotic strains and related commercial products being accompanied by specific health-promoting claims, comparative analyses focusing on the genetic factors related to probiotic features are still lacking. The World Health Organization defines probiotics as “live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host” In this framework, probiotic strains should be regarded as safe for human and animal consumption, i.e., they should possess the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status, notified by the local authorities. Even though probiotic properties are often genus- or species-associated, strain-level differences in the genetic features conferring individual probiotic properties to commercialized bifidobacterial strains have not been investigated in detail
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