Bifidobacterium longum is considered a microorganism with probiotic potential, which has been extensively studied, but these probiotic effects are strain dependent. This work aims to characterize the probiotic potential, based on the biochemical and genomic functionality, of B. longum LBUX23, isolated from neonates' feces. B. longum LBUX23 contains one circular genome of 2,287,838 bp with a G+C content of 60.05%, no plasmids, no CRISPR-Cas operon, possesses 56 tRNAs, 9 rRNAs, 1 tmRNA and 1776 coding sequences (CDSs). It has chromosomally encoded resistance genes to ampicillin and dicloxacillin, non-hemolytic activity, and moderate inhibition of Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and to some emergent pathogen's clinical strains. B. longum LBUX23 was able to utilize lactose, sucrose, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), and lactulose. The maximum peak of bacterial growth was observed in sucrose and FOS at 6 h; in lactose and lactulose, it was shown at 8 h. B. longum LBUX23 can survive in gastrointestinal conditions (pH 4 to 7). A decrease in survival (96.5 and 93.8%) was observed at pH 3 and 3.5 during 120 min. argC, argH, and dapA genes could be involved in this tolerance. B. longum LBUX23 can also survive under primary and secondary glyco- or tauro-conjugated bile salts, and a mixture of bile salts due to the high extracellular bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity (67.3 %), in taurocholic acid followed by taurodeoxycholic acid (48.5%), glycocholic acid (47.1%), oxgall (44.3%), and glycodeoxycholic acid (29.7%) probably due to the presence of the cbh and gnlE genes which form an operon (start: 119573 and end: 123812). Low BSH activity was determined intracellularly (<7%), particularly in glycocholic acid; no intracellular activity was shown. B. longum LBUX23 showed antioxidant effects in DPPH radical, mainly in intact cells (27.4%). In the case of hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity, cell debris showed the highest reduction (72.5%). In the cell-free extract, superoxide anion radical scavenging capacity was higher (90.5%). The genome of B. longum LBUX23 contains PNPOx, AhpC, Bcp, trxA, and trxB genes, which could be involved in this activity. Regarding adherence, it showed adherence up to 5% to Caco-2 cells. B. longum LBUX23 showed in vitro potential probiotic properties, mainly in BSH activity and antioxidant capacity, which indicates that it could be a good candidate for antioxidant or anti-cholesterol tests using in vivo models.
Keywords: BSH activity; Bifidobacterium longum; antioxidant; functional characterization; genome.