Abstract
Production of bacteriocins is a potential probiotic feature of many lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as it can help prevent the growth of pathogens in gut environments. However, knowledge on bacteriocin producers in situ and their function in the gut of healthy animals is still limited. In this study, we investigated five bacteriocin-producing strains of LAB and their isogenic non-producing mutants for probiotic values. The LAB bacteriocins, sakacin A (SakA), pediocin PA-1 (PedPA-1), enterocins P, Q and L50 (enterocins), plantaricins EF and JK (plantaricins) and garvicin ML (GarML), are all class II bacteriocins, but they differ greatly from each other in terms of inhibition spectrum and physicochemical properties. The strains were supplemented to mice through drinking water and changes on the gut microbiota composition were interpreted using 16S rRNA gene analysis. In general, we observed that overall structure of the gut microbiota remained largely unaffected by the treatments. However, at lower taxonomic levels, some transient but advantageous changes were observed. Some potentially problematic bacteria were inhibited (e.g., Staphylococcus by enterocins, Enterococcaceae by GarML, and Clostridium by plantaricins) and the proportion of LAB was increased in the presence of SakA-, plantaricins- and GarML-producing bacteria. Moreover, the treatment with GarML-producing bacteria co-occurred with decreased triglyceride levels in the host mice. Taken together, our results indicate that several of these bacteriocin producers have potential probiotic properties at diverse levels as they promote favorable changes in the host without major disturbance in gut microbiota, which is important for normal gut functioning.
Highlights
With more than 1,000 bacterial species residing in the gastrointestinal tract [1], the gut microbiota is expected to have developed means to compete with each other for common resourcesPLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0164036 October 3, 2016Impact of Class II Bacteriocins on Gut MicrobiotaMicroDE)
Six to eight weeks old BALB/C female mice were grouped into 11 different cages (1 control cage with n = 10, 5 cages treated with bacteriocin-producing strains with n = 9 and 5 cages treated with their isogenic non-producing strains with n = 9) and mice were ear-labelled for individual tracking
While mice in most cages gained weight in a fashion comparable to control mice, mice treated with pediocin PA-1 (PedPA-1)(+) and plantaricins(-) appeared to have higher weight gain, see Fig 1
Summary
With more than 1,000 bacterial species residing in the gastrointestinal tract [1], the gut microbiota is expected to have developed means to compete with each other for common resourcesPLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0164036 October 3, 2016Impact of Class II Bacteriocins on Gut MicrobiotaMicroDE). With more than 1,000 bacterial species residing in the gastrointestinal tract [1], the gut microbiota is expected to have developed means to compete with each other for common resources. Impact of Class II Bacteriocins on Gut Microbiota. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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