Probiotic Potential of Lactobacillus Strains Isolated from Sorghum-Based Traditional Fermented Food

Sorghum-based traditional fermented food was screened for potential probiotic lactic acid bacteria. The isolates were identified by biochemical, physiological and genetic methods. Species identification was done by 16s rRNA sequence analysis. The functional probiotic potential of the two Lactobacillus species viz., Lactobacillus plantarum (Lact. plantarum) and Lactobacillus pentosus (Lact. pentosus) was assessed by different standard parameters. The strains were tolerant to pH 2 for 1 h and resistant to methicillin, kanamycin, vancomycin and norfloxacin. Two (Lact. plantarum COORG-3 and Lact. pentosus COORG-8) out of eight isolates recorded the cell surface hydrophobicity to be 59.12 and 64.06 %, respectively. All the strains showed tolerance to artificial duodenum juice (pH 2) for 3 h, positive for bile salt hydrolase test and negative for haemolytic test. The neutralized cell-free supernatant of the strains Lact. pentosus COORG-4, Lact. plantarum COORG-1, Lact. plantarum COORG-7, Lact. pentosus COORG-8 and Lact. plantarum COORG-3 showed good antibiofilm activity. Lact. pentosus COORG-8 exhibited 74 % activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa-MTCC 7903 and Lact. plantarum COORG-7 showed 68 % inhibition of biofilm against Klebsiella pneumonia MTCC 7407. Three (Lact. plantarum COORG-7, Lact. pentosus COORG-5 and Lact. pentosus COORG 8) out of eight isolates exhibited a good antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes and five isolates (Lact. pentosus COORG 2, Lact. plantarum COORG 1, Lact. plantarum COORG 4, Lact. pentosus COORG 3 and Lact. plantarum COORG 6) are active against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterococcus faecalis. The study also evaluated the cholesterol lowering property of the Lactobacillus strains using hen egg yolk as the cholesterol source. The cholesterol in hen egg yolk was assimilated by 74.12 and 68.26 % by Lact. plantarum COORG 4 and Lact. pentosus COORG 7, respectively. The results of the present study suggest that the Lactobacillus strains isolated and characterized from sorghum-based fermented product may be used as probiotic strains for therapeutic applications.