Shah and Patel

Nowadays the food industry focuses on the strategy

2. Vitamin B ₁₂

(or Cobalamine): One of the very

to select and employ folate producing probiotic

important vitamins, vitamin B ₁₂

popularly known

strains, to produce fermented products with elevated

as cobalamin is required for the metabolism

amount of “natural” folate without increasing the

of fatty acids, amino acids, nucleic acids and

production cost and inherent tendency to provide

carbohydrates (Quesada-Chanto et al. 1994). It

desiredhealthbenefits(Rossi etal. 2011).AmongLAB,

cannot be synthesized by mammals and must be

many Lactobacillus spp. including Lactococcus lactis, obtained from exogenous sources like foods or the

L. plantarum, L. bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus intestinal microbiota. This vitamin is the largest

and Enterococcus spp. have the ability to produce

and most structurally complicated vitamin and can

folate. On the other hand, some lactobacilli strains

be produced industrially only through bacterial

( L. gasseri, L. salivarius, L. acidophilus and L. johnsonii )

fermentation-biosynthesis. Some members of the

used as both starter cultures and probiotics, cannot

genus Lactobacillus have the ability to produce

synthesize folate because they lack few specific genes vitamin B ₁₂ , in particular a probiotic strain of L.

involved in folate biosynthesis (LeBlanc et al. 2007).

reuteri which exhibits hypocholesterolaemic activity

Sybesma et al. (2003) reported production of folate

in animals can produce B ₁₂ (Taranto et al. 2003). A few

from Lc. lactis , Stre. thermophilus , and Leuconostoc spp.

Propionibacteria such as Propionibacterium shermani is

and most Lactobacillus spp., except of L. plantarum .

also responsible for producing vitamin B12 in certain

Authors

stated

that

several

environmental

cheese varieties (Prajapati, 1995).

parameters could influence folate production; high Deficiency of vitamin B ₁₂ can potentially cause severe

external pH and the addition of p -aminobenzoic acid

and irreversible damage, especially to the brain and

stimulated folate production, while high tyrosine

nervous system and haematopoietic (pernicious

concentrations led to decreased folate biosynthesis.

anaemia). At levels only slightly lower than normal,

Ontheotherhand,somestarterculturesandprobiotic

a range of symptoms such as fatigue, depression,

lactobacillus strains in non-dairy foods utilize more

and poor memory may be experienced (Anon, 2011).

folate than they produce as stated by O’Connor

Furthermore, this deficiency in male animal models

et al. (2005). In previous studies also, fermented milk

influenced the number of offspring which showed

products showed an increase in folic acid content

growth retardation and decrease in some blood

(ropy milk exhibited a twofold increase) and a slight

parameters (Molina et al. 2008).

decrease in concentration of vitamin B ₁₂ . While

3. Vitamin B (or riboflavin): Riboflavin functions

2

there was a negligible change in the content of other

as a vital element in cellular metabolism being the

vitamins (Alm, 1984)

precursor of coenzymes acting as hydrogen carriers

Recently, Goswami and Prajapati (2013) evaluated

in biological redox reactions. Riboflavin is present

production of folic acid and biotin from L. helveticus in many foods such as green vegetables, dairy

MTCC 5463, a probiotic strain and L. rhamnosus products, eggs and meat. Riboflavin deficiency can

MTCC 5462, a normal lactobacilli. Both the strains

lead to damages in liver, skin and changes in the

increased the contents of folic acid in fermented

brain glucose metabolism (LeBlanc et al. 2011), with

milks either using single or in combination;

symptoms like hyperaemia, sore throat, odema of

however, biotin concentration increased only with

oral and mucous membranes, cheilosis and glossitis

probiotic strain. Similar to this, in another i n vitro (Wilson, 1983).

investigation, an increased production of folic acid

Recently, riboflavin-producing LAB strains were

was observed in human subjects after administration

isolated and used as a convenient biotechnological

of probiotic Bifidobacterium trains (Strozzi and Mogna,

application for the preparation of bread (fermented

2008).

sourdough) and pasta to enrich them with vitamin

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