Anti-inflammatory compounds in probiotic yeast revealed by untargeted metabolomics

Abstract

The saccharomyces strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii has exhibited efficacy in ameliorating symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders, including inflammatory diseases. The molecular origin of the anti-inflammatory activity has remained largely elusive to this day. Earlier studies suggest a small, secreted, yet undefined, molecule as the active principle and thus an untargeted metabolomics approach towards its identification was adopted. We used LCMS-analysis to interrogate the secreted metabolome of S. cerevisiae var. boulardii in comparison to a S. cerevisiae reference strain. Statistical analysis of the data revealed several compounds unique to S. cerevisiae var. boulardii, that were partially annotated and confirmed by comparison with authentic standards. Furthermore, anti-inflammatory properties were experimentally assigned to several small molecules, indicating that this property of the yeast variant is due to several factors. Our data suggest that the anti-inflammatory properties of S. cerevisiae var. boulardii can be linked to the activity of small molecules in its secreted metabolome.