Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria to compete with other bacteria for nutrients and ecological niches. The antimicrobial effect of these peptides on the bacterial populations in the gut is likely dynamic as the survival of the microbes in this environment depends on both competition and cooperation. In this study, we evaluated four different bacteriocins from lactic acid bacteria (LAB): nisin, enterocin A (EntA), enterocin K1 (EntK1), and garvicin ML (GarML), which have different inhibition spectra and physicochemical properties. The bacteriocins were tested in vitro using fecal slurry batch cultures from infants. The abundances of some bacterial populations in the cultures were determined using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and the metabolic activity of the gut microbiota was assessed by measuring the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) using gas chromatography. The effects of the bacteriocins correlated well with their antimicrobial spectra and the administered concentrations. Nisin and GarML, with broad antimicrobial spectra, shifted the abundance of several intestinal bacterial groups, while EntA and EntK1, with relative narrower inhibition spectra, showed no or little effect. Moreover, the results from the SCFA analysis were consistent with changes obtained in the bacterial composition. In particular, a reduction in acetate concentration was observed in the samples with low abundance of Bifidobacterium, which is a well-known acetate producer. The variability imposed on the intestinal bacterial populations by the different bacteriocins tested suggests that this type of antimicrobials have great potential to modulate the gut microbiota for medical purposes.
Keywords: Bacteriocins; Enterocin A; Enterocin K1; Garvicin ML; Gut bacteria; Nisin.