Potential Application of Apilactobacillus kunkeei for Human Use: Evaluation of Probiotic and Functional Properties

• Published in: Foods 2020-10, Vol.9 (11), p.1535
• Main Authors: Vergalito, Franca, Testa, Bruno, Cozzolino, Autilia, Letizia, Francesco, Succi, Mariantonietta, Lombardi, Silvia Jane, Tremonte, Patrizio, Pannella, Gianfranco, Di Marco, Roberto, Sorrentino, Elena, Coppola, Raffaele, Iorizzo, Massimo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: antibiotic susceptibility; antimicrobial activity; Bacillus (Bacteria); fructophilic lactic acid bacteria; gastrointestinal transit; Health aspects; lactobacilli; probiotication
• ISSN: 2304-8158; 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods9111535

is an insect symbiont with documented beneficial effects on the health of honeybees. It belongs to fructophilic lactic acid bacteria (FLAB), a subgroup of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) notably recognized for their safe status. This fact, together with its recurrent isolation from hive products that are traditionally part of the human diet, suggests its possible safe use as human probiotic. Our data concerning three strains of isolated from bee bread and honeybee gut highlighted several interesting features, such as the presence of beneficial enzymes (β-glucosidase, β-galactosidase and leucine arylamidase), the low antibiotic resistance, the ability to inhibit and, for one tested strain, , and an excellent viability in presence of high sugar concentrations, especially for one strain tested in sugar syrup stored at 4 °C for 30 d. This datum is particularly stimulating, since it demonstrates that selected strains of can be used for the probiotication of fruit preparations, which are often used in the diet of hospitalized and immunocompromised patients. Finally, we tested for the first time the survival of strains belonging to the species during simulated gastrointestinal transit, detecting a similar if not a better performance than that showed by GG, used as probiotic control in each trial.