First characterization of the probiotic potential of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Costa Rican pineapple silages

Jannette Wen Fang Wu Wu; Mauricio Redondo-Solano; Lidieth Uribe; Rodolfo WingChing-Jones; Jessie Usaga; Natalia Barboza

doi:10.7717/peerj.12437

First characterization of the probiotic potential of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Costa Rican pineapple silages

PeerJ. 2021 Nov 30:9:e12437. doi: 10.7717/peerj.12437. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jannette Wen Fang Wu Wu¹, Mauricio Redondo-Solano², Lidieth Uribe³, Rodolfo WingChing-Jones⁴, Jessie Usaga⁵, Natalia Barboza⁶

Affiliations

¹ Food Technology Department, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica.
² Research Center for Tropical Diseases (CIET) and Food Microbiology Research and Training Laboratory (LIMA), College of Microbiology, University of Costa Rica (UCR), Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica.
³ Agronomic Research Center (CIA), Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica.
⁴ Animal Science Department, Animal Nutrition Research Center (CINA), Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica.
⁵ National Center for Food Science and Technology (CITA), Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica.
⁶ Food Technology Department, National Center for Food Science and Technology (CITA), Center for Research in Cellular and Molecular Biology (CIBCM), Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, Costa Rica.

Abstract

Background: Agro-industrial waste from tropical environments could be an important source of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with probiotic potential.

Methods: Twelve LAB isolates were isolated from pineapple silages. The species identification was carried out considering 16S rRNA and pheS genes. Experiments to evaluate the probiotic potential of the isolates included survival under simulated gastrointestinal environment, in vitro antagonistic activity (against Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes), auto-aggregation assays, antibiotic susceptibility, presence of plasmids, adhesiveness to epithelial cells, and antagonistic activity against Salmonella in HeLa cells.

Results: Lacticaseibacillus paracasei, Lentilactobacillus parafarraginis, Limosilactobacillus fermentum, and Weissella ghanensis were identified. Survival of one of the isolates was 90% or higher after exposure to acidic conditions (pH: 2), six isolates showed at least 61% survival after exposure to bile salts. The three most promising isolates, based on survivability tests, showed a strong antagonistic effect against Salmonella. However, only L. paracasei_6714 showed a strong Listeria inhibition pattern; this isolate showed a good auto-aggregation ability, was resistant to some of the tested antibiotics but was not found to harbor plasmids; it also showed a high capacity for adhesion to epithelial cells and prevented the invasion of Salmonella in HeLa cells. After further in vivo evaluations, L. paracasei_6714 may be considered a probiotic candidate for food industry applications and may have promising performance in acidic products due to its origin.

Keywords: Agro-industrial residuals; Antibiotics resistance; Gastrointestinal tract survivor; Inhibition; Pathogens.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Costa Rican Ministry of Science and Technology (MICITT) and the University of Costa Rica (UCR), Projects FI-031B-14, B9-457 and B8-610. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.