Abstract
The present study was undertaken to isolate bifidobacterial probiotics and characterize the biodiversity of mucosal bacteria in the human distal gut through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Bifidobacterial strains obtained by selective culturing were investigated for biofilms and probiotic characteristics. Both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches revealed substantial microbial diversity. Bifidobacterium strains yielded robust biofilms with predominantly exopolysaccharides and eDNA matrix. Microscopy revealed species-dependent spatial arrangement of microcolonies. Following probiotic profiling and safety assessment, the inter- and intra-specific interactions in in dual strain bifidobacterial biofilms were studied. As a species, only strains of B. bifidum exhibited exclusively inductive type of interactions whereas in other species, the interactions were more varied. On the other hand, in dual species biofilms, a preponderance of inductive interactions was evident between B. adolescentis, B. thermophilum, B. bifidum, and B. longum. The strong biofilm-formers also diminished pathogenic biofilm viability, and some were proficient in cholesterol removal in vitro. None of the strains exhibited harmful enzymatic activities associated with disease pathology. Interaction between biofilm-forming bifidobacterial strains provides an understanding of their functionality and persistence in the human host, and food or medicine. Their anti-pathogenic activity represents a therapeutic strategy against drug-resistant pathogenic biofilms.
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Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files). The genome datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available online in the [National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)] repository and accession number(s) could be found in the article/supplementary material.
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The work was supported by the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Government of Pakistan, Grant/Award Number: PSDP “Development of a National Probiotic Lab at NIBGE” with the corresponding author as its Director.
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Conceptualization: AZ; methodology: KA and NR; formal analysis and investigation: KA; writing—original draft preparation: KA; writing—review and editing: AZ; funding acquisition: AZ; resources: AZ and NR; supervision: AZ.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were per the institutional and national research committee’s ethical standards and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Institutional review committee (NIBGE) and ethical review committee (ERC) of Kulsum International Hospital, Islamabad (EC Ref No: KIH/ERC-001).
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Aziz, K., Zaidi, A. & Rehman, N. Probiotic profiling of bifidobacteria indigenous to the human intestinal mucosa shows alleviation of dysbiosis-associated pathogen biofilms. Arch Microbiol 205, 176 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-023-03487-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-023-03487-y