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Fermentation
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Lactic Acid Bacteria: Evaluation of Benefits on Human Health and...
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Lactic Acid Bacteria: Evaluation of Benefits on Human Health and Improvement of Food Safety

A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637). This special issue belongs to the section "Fermentation for Food and Beverages".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 3092

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Patricia Castellano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos, San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina
Interests: biocontrol; lactic acid bacteria; bacteriocins; meat products
Dr. Susana Salva

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos, San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina
Interests: lactobacillus; microbiota; oral microbiota
Dr. Lucia Mendoza

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro de Referencia Para Lactobacilos, San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina
Interests: yeast; lactic acid bacteria; wine fermentation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are an important group of microorganisms able to produce lactic acid mostly from the fermentation of carbohydrates. Industrially, LAB play a prominent role in the fermentation of foods (dairy, wine, bread, vegetables and meat) through their enzymatic activities and metabolites production. Several species of LAB are considered as generally recognized as safe (GRAS). This property allowed them to be used as starter cultures considering the adaptability to the fermentation process, biosynthetic capacity and metabolic versatility. In this way, LAB improve the flavor, increase nutrient bioavailability, reduce harmful substances and increase shelf-life of fermented food. In addition, LAB can produce antimicrobial compounds able to inhibit important food pathogens ensuring the microbiological quality of food. Particularly, the bacteriocins characterization and application for food preservation are of great interest in recent studies in the field. Besides, numerous LAB applied as probiotics and their metabolites as postbiotics have demonstrated beneficial effects on the human and animal gastrointestinal tract. Even more, the bioactive compounds produced by certain LAB, such as vitamins, polyphenols, gamma-aminobutyric acid and polysaccharides, can promote the development of beneficial microbiota for the gastrointestinal mucosa, as well as exert an immunomodulatory effect. This Special Issue will examine the potential application of LAB and their postbiotics in order to promote their industrial use focused on food safety, food quality and consumer health.

Dr. Patricia Castellano
Dr. Susana Salva
Dr. Lucia Mendoza
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • lactic acid bacteria
  • probiotic and postbiotics
  • functional food
  • human health applications
  • food safety
  • biopreservation
  • genetic engineering
  • food quality

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2028 KiB  
Article
Characterization of a Vaginal Limosilactobacillus Strain Producing Anti-Virulence Postbiotics: A Potential Probiotic Candidate
by Tsvetelina Paunova-Krasteva, Petya D. Dimitrova, Dayana Borisova, Lili Dobreva, Nikoleta Atanasova and Svetla Danova
Fermentation 2025, 11(6), 350; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11060350 - 16 Jun 2025
Viewed by 458
Abstract
The search for probiotics to help limit antibiotic resistance is a major scientific challenge. The exploration of Lactobacillus postbiotics represents a promising approach to prevent pathogen invasion. With this aim, Limosilactobacillus fermentum Lf53, with a broad-spectrum of antagonistic activity, was characterized as a [...] Read more.
The search for probiotics to help limit antibiotic resistance is a major scientific challenge. The exploration of Lactobacillus postbiotics represents a promising approach to prevent pathogen invasion. With this aim, Limosilactobacillus fermentum Lf53, with a broad-spectrum of antagonistic activity, was characterized as a candidate probiotic strain with promising transit tolerance and broad spectrum of activity. A study on growth and postbiotic production in modified MRS broth with different carbohydrates and its vegan variant was carried out. This study presents a comprehensive approach to characterizing the anti-virulence properties of postbiotics derived from Lf53. The promising antibacterial, antibiofilm, and anti-quorum sensing activities of the cell-free supernatants (CFS) were assessed as part of the probiotic’s barrier mechanisms. Biofilm inhibition of P. aeruginosa revealed remarkable suppressive effects exerted by the three tested postbiotics, two of which (nCFS and aCFS) exhibited over 50% inhibition and more than 60% for lysates. The postbiotics’ influence on the production of violacein and pyocyanin pigments of Chromobacterium violaceum and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are markers for quorum sensing, highlighted their potential in regulating pathogenic mechanisms. The Lf53 lysates showed the most significant inhibition of violacein production across multiple assays, showing 29.8% reduction. Regarding pyocyanin suppression, the postbiotics also demonstrated strong activity. These are the first reported data on complex postbiotics (metabiotics and parabiotics) demonstrating their potential as anti-virulence agents to help combat pathogens associated with antibiotic-resistant infections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lactic Acid Bacteria: Evaluation of Benefits on Human Health and Improvement of Food Safety)
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12 pages, 528 KiB  
Article
Probiotic Potential of Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains Isolated from Artisanal Cheeses: Impact on Listeria monocytogenes Infection
by Carla Burgos, Constanza Melian, Lucía M. Mendoza, Susana Salva and Patricia Castellano
Fermentation 2025, 11(6), 343; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11060343 - 12 Jun 2025
Viewed by 460
Abstract
Listeriosis is a disease associated with the consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) or their postbiotics have been of interest for their anti-listerial effect. This study focused on isolating LAB from artisanal cheeses and characterizing their [...] Read more.
Listeriosis is a disease associated with the consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) or their postbiotics have been of interest for their anti-listerial effect. This study focused on isolating LAB from artisanal cheeses and characterizing their potential as probiotics. Twelve LAB isolates exhibiting typical LAB traits were evaluated for their ability to survive in simulated gastric juice, hydrolyze bile salts, auto-aggregate, hydrophobicity, and antagonistic activity against L. monocytogenes. The four most promising LAB strains demonstrated anti-listerial probiotic potential and were identified as Latilactobacillus (Lat.) curvatus SC076 and Lactiplantibacillus (Lact.) paraplantarum SC291, SC093, and SC425. The antimicrobial activity of these strains was mainly attributed to bacteriocin-like substances and organic acids. While three Lact. paraplantarum strains were resistant to ampicillin, Lat. curvatus was sensitive to all tested antibiotics. All selected strains exhibited no hemolytic, gelatinase, and lecithinase activity. Exposure to LAB supernatants resulted in a significant reduction in the adhesion and intracellular count of L. monocytogenes in Caco-2 cells, with Lat. curvatus SC076 showing the most significant effect. Based on its probiotic characteristics, Lat. curvatus SC076 is a promising candidate for functional foods, pending further in vivo studies to assess its potential in the food industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lactic Acid Bacteria: Evaluation of Benefits on Human Health and Improvement of Food Safety)
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16 pages, 1841 KiB  
Article
Characterizations and In Vitro Gut Microbiome Modulatory Effects of Gluco-Oligosaccharides Synthesized by the Acceptor Reactions of Glucansucrase 53
by Rabia Yusra Bayaman, Zuhal Alkay, Humeyra Ispirli, Seda Arioglu-Tuncil, Sevda Dere, Hasan Can, Miguel Angel Alvarez Gonzales, Osman Sagdic, Stephen R. Lindemann, Yunus Emre Tuncil and Enes Dertli
Fermentation 2025, 11(6), 324; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11060324 - 6 Jun 2025
Viewed by 483
Abstract
The production of novel oligosaccharides with potential prebiotic effects is of interest to expand the current market and explore the effectiveness of new functional carbohydrate forms. The utilization of glucansucrases is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly biotechnological strategy for producing novel gluco-oligosaccharides through [...] Read more.
The production of novel oligosaccharides with potential prebiotic effects is of interest to expand the current market and explore the effectiveness of new functional carbohydrate forms. The utilization of glucansucrases is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly biotechnological strategy for producing novel gluco-oligosaccharides through acceptor reactions. In this study, an active glucansucrase (GS53) was used to produce gluco-oligosaccharides via its acceptor reactions with glucose, maltose, and maltotriose, and these oligosaccharides were tested in terms of structure and their gut microbiome modulatory effects. The formations of oligosaccharides were monitored by TLC analysis, and GS53 was active for the three acceptors but not for the other sugars tested. The structural characterization of the gluco-oligosaccharides by 1H NMR analysis revealed the glycosylation of each acceptor with α-(1 → 3) and α-(1 → 6) linkages, whereas LC-MS analysis demonstrated the formations of DP 8, DP 7, and DP 6 oligosaccharides with acceptors maltose, maltotriose, and glucose, respectively. In vitro fecal fermentation analysis, in which microbial short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and microbial compositional changes were assessed using gas chromatography and 16S rRNA sequencing, respectively, demonstrated that the gluco-oligosaccharides formed SCFAs—particularly propionate and butyrate—at levels comparable to those observed with inulin, a well-established prebiotic. Additionally, the gluco-oligosaccharides were found to promote the growth of Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Blautia OTUs, which are known to have important physiological functions beneficial to human health. Overall, these results demonstrate that gluco-oligosaccharides synthesized using GS53 through acceptor reactions exhibit prebiotic potentials and could be utilized in the future as dietary supplements as well as in the development of functional foods targeting colonic health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lactic Acid Bacteria: Evaluation of Benefits on Human Health and Improvement of Food Safety)
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13 pages, 6214 KiB  
Article
Elucidating the Connection Between the Health-Promoting Properties of Limosilactobacillus fermentum Lf2 and Its Exopolysaccharides
by Elisa C. Ale, Analía Ale, Guillermo H. Peralta, José M. Irazoqui, Gabriela Correa Olivar, Victoria Allende Roldán, Gabriel Vinderola, Ariel F. Amadio, Carina V. Bergamini, Jimena Cazenave and Ana G. Binetti
Fermentation 2025, 11(2), 69; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11020069 - 1 Feb 2025
Viewed by 964
Abstract
The potential probiotic properties of Limosilactobacillus fermentum Lf2, an exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producing strain, were assessed in C57BL/6 mice. The aim of this work was to elucidate if these properties could be associated with the ability to produce EPSs. Mice were divided into three treatments: [...] Read more.
The potential probiotic properties of Limosilactobacillus fermentum Lf2, an exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producing strain, were assessed in C57BL/6 mice. The aim of this work was to elucidate if these properties could be associated with the ability to produce EPSs. Mice were divided into three treatments: L (mice treated with Lf2), E (animals that received EPSs), and C (control group). The levels of fecal acetic and propionic acids significantly increased in L and E compared with C. Catalase activity increased in L in comparison with the other groups in the liver and small intestine. The enzyme activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione S-transferase increased in the large intestine for L compared with C. In addition, in the large intestine, the concentration of TNF-α was reduced in L and E in comparison with C. In the small intestine, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-12, and IL-6 presented lower levels in L and E than C. The analysis of the gut microbiota showed that L presented higher levels of Peptococcaceae and Rikenellaceae, while E had higher levels of Peptococcaceae than C. Overall, these results provide new insights into the relationship between the probiotic properties of lactic acid bacteria and their ability to produce EPSs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lactic Acid Bacteria: Evaluation of Benefits on Human Health and Improvement of Food Safety)
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