PROBIOTIC AND FUNCTIONAL ATTRIBUTES OF PROBIOTIC LEUCONOSTOCCITREUM STRAIN MRKAK2

The development of functional foods and their safety assessment is required for well-being of the human health. In the present study, we have isolated and identified a potential probiotic bacterium from the fermented garlic pickle that exhibits an improvement in health status upon consumption. In order to assess the probiotic potential of isolated bacterium, in vitro probiotic tests were performed, including tolerance to acid, pancreatin,bile, and adhesion ability to gastrointestinal cell lines. The safety assessment of probiotic strain was evaluated using an antibiotic susceptibility test. The obtained results showed that the isolated strain was identified as Leuconostoccitreum strainMRKAK2 based on 16S rRNA sequencing. The isolate demonstrated tolerance to acidic pH (pH 1.0 and pH 3.0), 0.3% pepsin (pH 2.0), 0.1% pancreatin (pH 8.0), bile (0.3% and 1%) and efficient adhesion to gastrointestinal cell line HT-29.The strain also exhibited susceptibility towards antibiotic ampicillin, tetracycline, streptomycin, and sulphatriad, whereas it showed resistance against chloramphenicol and penicillin-G.The antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the strain was similar to other Lactobacillus strains.Thus, our results exhibitedthat L.citreum strain MRKAK2 is a potential probiotic strain for developingfermented functional foods.