Perspectives into probiotics- From phenotyping to pyrosequencing

can be accessed under the GenBank accession number AEYM01000001-

AEYM01002543.ȱWeȱareȱproudȱtoȱannounceȱthatȱweȱareȱtheȱfirstȱinȱtheȱ

country to submit the whole genome sequence of an indigenous novel

probiotic strain (Prajapati et al., 2011 and 2012)

Clinical effects of our strains

In animal models

Toȱdirectlyȱobserveȱtheȱbenefitsȱofȱourȱculturesȱinȱchicksȱandȱtoȱextrapolateȱ

in humans, we carried out experiments on feeding acidophilus milk to

chicks for 8 days and monitored HI- antibody titre as a measure of immune

response for 5 weeks. All the fermented milk fed chicks showed higher

antibody titre than control, which indicated the immune stimulating

ability of the fermented milk (Patidar and Prajapati, 1999). Acidophilus

milkȱpreparedȱusingȱtwoȱdifferentȱstrainsȱofȱ Lactobacillus acidophilus was

fed to one week old chicks for 16 consecutive days. All the chicks were

then challenged with pathogenic E. coli . Within 72 h post-challenge, 93%

birds in the control group died. However, in chicks fed acidophilus milk

fermented by Lb. acidophilus , the mortality was only 27%. This indicated

thatȱtheȱfeedingȱofȱacidophilusȱmilkȱofferȱprotectiveȱeffectȱtoȱtheȱchicksȱ

against E. coli infection. MTCC 5463 was again able to completely stop

proliferation of tumor in vitro on human cell lines. 63% adhesion in in

vitro ȱadhesionȱstudiesȱonȱcarcinomaȱHT-29ȱcellsȱmonitoringȱusingȱflowȱ

cytometry studies were established (Vishwananth et al., 2012).

In silico models

Whole-genome based validation of the adaptive properties L. helveticus

MTCC 5463

For a polyphasic approach to validate the functionality of a potential

probioticstrainwefocusedonthe insilico analysisofthestrain’sgeneticbasis

of robustness in gut and transit, adhesion, autoaggregation, colonization,

and

antibacterial,

hypocholesterolemic

and

immunomodulatory

properties. The strain had excellent adaptive features like the multi subunit

F0F1 ATPase, conjugated bile salt hyrolase, chaperones like hsp33, HtrA,

GroEL, GroES, dnaK, grpE, starvation-inducible proteins and heavy-

metal transporting ATPases. The genome revealed genes for adhesion

and aggregation including exopolysaccharides, capsular polysaccharides

sortase,ȱelongationȱfactorȱTu,ȱaggregationȱpromotingȱproteins,ȱfibronectin-

binding proteins, S-layer and mucus-binding proteins. We could identify

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