title: Prebiotic preferences of human lactobacilli strains in co-culture with bifidobacteria and antimicrobial activity against Clostridium difficile.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate robustness, prebiotic utilization of Lactobacillus paracasei F8 and Lactobacillus plantarum F44 in mono- and co-cultures with Bifidobacterium breve 46 and Bifidobacterium animalis sub sp. lactis 8 : 8 and antimicrobial activity of co-culture against Clostridium difficile.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two Lactobacillus strains showed a high acid and bile tolerance. Lactobacillus plantarum F44 showed maximum growth in de Man Rogosa Sharpe basal broth with glucose and lactulose compared to growth in galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMOS). In co-culture system, the amylolytic Bif. breve 46 stimulated the growth of a nonamylolytic Lact. paracasei F8, probably by producing intermediate metabolites of starch metabolism. A higher growth of four strains Lact. paracasei F8, Lact. plantarum F44, Bif. breve 46 and Bif. animalis ssp lactis 8 : 8 with different prebiotic combinations was found in a MRSC basal broth with SS (soluble starch) + IMOS + GOS and IMOS + GOS respectively. The two Lactobacillus strains exhibited a high antimicrobial activity against four clinical Cl. difficile strains and a hypervirulent NAP1/027strain and suppressed the toxin titres possibly through the production of organic acids and heat stable antimicrobial proteins when grown on glucose and through the production of acids when grown on prebiotics. Culture supernatants from synbiotic combinations inhibited the growth of the Cl. difficile NAP1/027 strain and its toxin titres.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lactobacillus paracasei F8, Lact. plantarum F44 exhibited potential probiotic properties. Further, the two Lactobacillus and two bifidobacteria strains were compatible with each other and exhibited high growth in co-cultures in presence of prebiotics and SS and antimicrobial activity against clinical Cl. difficile strains and a hypervirulent NAPI/027 strain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results are promising for the development of a multi-strain synergistic synbiotic supplement for protection against Cl. difficile infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Labmedicine Skåne, Lund, Sweden.|Christ College, Saurashtra University, Gujrat, India.
authors.forename: P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1463-6312
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ambalam
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Labmedicine Skåne, Lund, Sweden.|Danish Innovation Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark.|National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, S. A. S. Nagar, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kondepudi
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Labmedicine Skåne, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balusupati
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Labmedicine Skåne, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Labmedicine Skåne, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wadström
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Labmedicine Skåne, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Å
authors.initials: Å
authors.lastname: Ljungh
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000187:drug effects*; D018920:Coculture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003470:Culture Media; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D056692:Prebiotics / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003470:Culture Media; D056692:Prebiotics
keywords: Cl. difficile; antimicrobial activity; bifidobacteria; co-culture; co-feeding; lactobacilli; prebiotics