title: Identification of vaginal lactobacilli with potential probiotic properties isolated from women in North Lebanon.
abstract: The aim of this work was to study the diversity of vaginal lactobacilli in Lebanese women and to evaluate the antagonism, hydrophobicity, and safety characteristics of these strains. This study was performed on samples from 135 women who visited a gynecology clinic in the north of Lebanon, between September 2012 and January 2013. From these samples, 53 different isolates of vaginal lactobacilli were collected from vaginal swabs and identified using biochemical and molecular methods. The use of genotypic Rep-PCR fingerprinting allowed for the organization of these isolates into 23 different groups. Seven of the isolated lactobacilli were antagonistic against the following vaginal pathogens: Gardnerella vaginalis CIP7074T, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC33862, Escherichia coli CIP103982, and Candida albicans ATCC10231. The antagonistic lactobacilli strains were then identified using 16S rDNA sequence. The data of this study show that the antagonistic lactobacilli were non-hemolytic, sensitive to most antibiotic tests, free of plasmid DNA, and exhibited interesting hydrophobicity and autoaggregation properties positioning them as potential candidates for probiotic design.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Procédés Biologiques, Génie Enzymatique et Microbien (ProBioGEM), Cité Scientifique, avenue Paul Langevin. Bâtiment-Polytech Lille, 59655, Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Imad
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Al Kassaa
authors.forename: Monzer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamze
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hober
authors.forename: Nour-Eddine
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Chihib
authors.forename: Djamel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Drider
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000898:Antibiosis; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000502:physiology; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology*; D007861:Lebanon; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019936:Probiotics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S