Prospects in the Field of Intended-Use Metabiotics Creation

Abstract

The analysis of contemporary literature bears evidence that the development of therapeutics intended for optimum formation, preservation and restoration of human symbiotic microbiota and their practical implementation are among the critical ways of preventive and regenerative medicine development. On the one hand, search is ongoing for new application targets of traditional probiotics made on the base of live probiotic strains and their detailed analysis, on the other hand, biologically active microbial molecules or their complexes are being isolated and identified which determine their application targets, efficiency and possible negative consequences of using these probiotics. New potential probiotic strains capable of modifying microelement, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, psychic statuses, epigenotype, quorum-sensing signaling are selected among both dominant microorganism species and among species represented on the skin and mucosa in low amounts (Shenderov 2014b). Supposedly, knowing the range and concentration of low molecular weight biologically active compounds formed by known or potential probiotic strains will help construct new effective metabiotics and set their optimum frequency, doses and method of administration. The selected strains of human origin with unique functional or biochemical activity can become perspective starter cultures for large-scale biotechnological production of microbial bioactive special-purpose substances. Their use as metabiotics in their own right or as fortifiers of known traditional probiotics, dietary supplements and functional foods will help develop and implement more efficient microecological products for symbiotic microbiota reservation and restoration in the majority of the population, in specific population groups and in individuals. It should also be remembered that beneficial effects of the prospective metabiotics depend to a great degree on the composition of the growth medium, time and conditions for initial starter culture incubation, methods of lysis of microbial cells, isolation, purification and (optionally) encapsulation of the corresponding low molecular weight components of a microbial cell, their metabolites and signaling molecules.