Lactobacillus strains are considered safe and healthy probiotics for manufacturing "natural food" products; this is due to their ability to produce bioactive compounds that reduce the incidence of various human diseases. Lactobacillus paracasei TK1501 is a novel probiotic strain isolated from naturally fermented congee; and can produce a high yield of genistein, one of the most widely studied isoflavone aglycones with plenty of physiological functions. To better understand the molecular basis of isoflavone aglycones biosynthesis, the complete 2,942,538 bp genome of L. paracasei TK1501 was sequenced and assembled; a group of genes that are involved in isoflavone aglycones production were identified. Of note, a β-glucosidase was analyzed in the L. paracasei TK1501. Moreover, we also found that L. paracasei TK1501 could be used in soymilk fermentation; which would remarkably increase the contents of genistein, daidzein, and glycitein. This work was meaningful to the application of L. paracasei TK1501 and the molecular mechanism analysis of isoflavone aglycones biosynthesis in Lactobacillus strains.
Keywords: Lactobacillus paracasei TK1501; complete genome sequence; isoflavone aglycones; β-glucosidase.