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Marine Drugs
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Marine Probiotics and Prebiotics: Characterization and Prospects for the Development...
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Marine Probiotics and Prebiotics: Characterization and Prospects for the Development of New Drugs/Nutraceuticals

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018) | Viewed by 18305

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rui Manuel Santos Costa de Morais

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Guest Editor
Catholic University of Portugal, CBQF – Centre for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry – Associate Laboratory, Rua Arquiteto Lobão Vital, Apartado 2511, 4202-401 Porto, Portugal
Interests: production, extraction and optimization of bioactive compounds from microalgae biomass and applications thereof in food/feed, and health; plant and microalgae biotechnology; bio-based products; natural product chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Ana Cristina Cristina Freitas

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Guest Editor
Investigadora Principal/Principal Researcher,CBQF - Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Rua Arquiteto Lobã, Vital, Apartado 2511, 4202-401 Porto, Portugal
Interests: food science and technology; functional foods; probiotics; prebiotics; new beneficial microorganims; bioactive compounds; microencapsulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ana Gomes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Associate Professor, CBQF—Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina—Laboratório Associado, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Rua Diogo Botelho 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal
Interests: live biotherapeutics; beneficial microorganims; probiotics; microencapsulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,                

Marine environments are a huge source of natural products and microorganisms with nutritional and biological impact on the host, of both animal and human origins, that may be excellent opportunities for the formulation of new drugs/nutraceuticals for food and feed delivery vehicles. Currently a major field of targeted application is modulation of gut microbiota, that play essential roles in mucosal barrier, metabolic and immunomodulatory functions, toward a balanced health status. Well-documented evidence has demonstrated how probiotics may help in recovering symbiosis between colonic microbiota and the host or reestablish states of dysbiosis. For example, the delivery of probiotic bacteria, of both human and fish origins, via feed vehicle or rearing water in the prevention of different fish diseases has received considerable attention in recent years.

Challenges include an extensive genotypic and phenotypic characterization of strains from marine origin, demonstration of their safety properties as well as identification and characterization of compounds/mechanisms responsible for their biological action, in order to be delivered via commercial food, feed and drug/nutraceutical forms.

Successful strategies targeting health promotion and disease prevention of host have also focused on prebiotic compounds in complimentary function to probiotic modulation. Prebiotics are non-digestible compounds that stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial gut bacteria. Among these, the most promising seem to be oligo and polysaccharides or their functionalized derivatives. Potential marine-derived prebiotics are found in seaweeds and microalgae among other organisms, and include alginates, fucoidans, carrageenans and exopolysaccharides.

Current research has been focusing on structure elucidation and biological activity of these marine natural prebiotics, mechanisms associated therewith, alone or in combination with probiotics, on biotechnological challenges to be overcome when incorporation in food, feed and drug/nutraceutical products as well as on safety and regulatory aspects.

As Guest Editors of this Special Issue of Marine Drugs, we invite you to provide recent advances in all these emerging and challenging aspects of marine probiotics and prebiotics.

Dr. Rui C. Morais
Dr. Ana M. P. Gomes
Dr. Ana Cristina Freitas
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. Marine Drugs 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 2900 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

  • Marine probiotics
  • Marine prebiotics
  • Polysaccharides and oligosaccharides
  • Prebiotic functionalization
  • Marine-based drugs/nutraceuticals
  • Food and feed applications
  • Biotechnological and Functional Traits
  • Issues Safety and Regulatory

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3422 KiB  
Article
Asperlin Stimulates Energy Expenditure and Modulates Gut Microbiota in HFD-Fed Mice
by Chongming Wu, Yue Zhou, Guihong Qi, Dong Liu, Xiaoxue Cao, Jiaqi Yu, Rong Zhang, Wenhan Lin and Peng Guo
Mar. Drugs 2019, 17(1), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/md17010038 - 9 Jan 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4073
Abstract
Asperlin is a marine-derived, natural product with antifungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic activities. In the present study, we showed that asperlin effectively prevented the development of obesity in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Oral administration of asperlin for 12 weeks significantly suppressed HFD-induced body weight [...] Read more.
Asperlin is a marine-derived, natural product with antifungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic activities. In the present study, we showed that asperlin effectively prevented the development of obesity in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Oral administration of asperlin for 12 weeks significantly suppressed HFD-induced body weight gain and fat deposition without inhibiting food intake. Hyperlipidemia and liver steatosis were also substantially ameliorated. A respiratory metabolism monitor showed that asperlin efficiently increased energy expenditure and enhanced thermogenic gene expression in adipose tissue. Accordingly, asperlin-treated mice showed higher body temperature and were more tolerant of cold stress. Meanwhile, asperlin also increased the diversity and shifted the structure of gut microbiota. Oral administration of asperlin markedly increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, leading to a higher Bacteroidetes-to-Fimicutes ratio. The HFD-induced abnormalities at both phylum and genus levels were all remarkably recovered by asperlin. These results demonstrated that asperlin is effective in preventing HFD-induced obesity and modulating gut microbiota. Its anti-obesity properties may be attributed to its effect on promoting energy expenditure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Probiotics and Prebiotics: Characterization and Prospects for the Development of New Drugs/Nutraceuticals)
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12 pages, 1087 KiB  
Communication
Isolation of Marine Bacillus sp. with Antagonistic and Organic-Substances-Degrading Activities and Its Potential Application as a Fish Probiotic
by Shuxin Zhou, Yu Xia, Chongmiao Zhu and Weihua Chu
Mar. Drugs 2018, 16(6), 196; https://doi.org/10.3390/md16060196 - 5 Jun 2018
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 6133
Abstract
We report on the isolation and characterization of an acid- and bile-tolerant bacterial strain, Bacillus sp. YB1701 with antibacterial and quorum-quenching activity. Strain YB1701 was isolated from coastal sediment samples and characterized by biochemical tests and 16S rRNA sequencing. In vitro study indicated [...] Read more.
We report on the isolation and characterization of an acid- and bile-tolerant bacterial strain, Bacillus sp. YB1701 with antibacterial and quorum-quenching activity. Strain YB1701 was isolated from coastal sediment samples and characterized by biochemical tests and 16S rRNA sequencing. In vitro study indicated that strain YB1701 can survive at pH 2.0 for up to 3 h and tolerate bile up to 2.0% concentration even after 12 h of exposure. Strain YB1701 showed antimicrobial activity against fish pathogens Aeromonas hydrophila and Vibrio parahemolyticus using an agar well diffusion assay. The trial test showed dietary supplementation of YB1701 significantly improved the resistance of Carassius auratus gibelio against A. hydrophila challenge. The safety assessment revealed that the isolate Bacillus sp. YB1701 was not cytotoxic to Carassius auratus gibelio or mice and did not exhibit hemolytic activity on rabbit blood agar plate. Disc-diffusion assays using a panel of antibiotics listed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) showed that YB1701 was susceptible to selected antibiotics. Under laboratory conditions, the degradation rate of organic waste (predominately fish excrement) for 14 days by YB1701 was 79.69%. Results from the present study suggest that strain YB1701 is a potential probiotic strain and can be used in aquaculture for degrading organic waste and improving disease resistance of fish against bacterial infection. Further study is needed to assess the utility of strain YB1701 on a commercial scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Probiotics and Prebiotics: Characterization and Prospects for the Development of New Drugs/Nutraceuticals)
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17 pages, 2315 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Comparison Reveals a Probiotic Strain Lactococcus lactis WFLU12 Isolated from the Gastrointestinal Tract of Olive Flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) Harboring Genes Supporting Probiotic Action
by Thanh Luan Nguyen and Do-Hyung Kim
Mar. Drugs 2018, 16(5), 140; https://doi.org/10.3390/md16050140 - 24 Apr 2018
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6341
Abstract
Our previous study has shown that dietary supplementation with Lactococcus lactis WFLU12 can enhance the growth of olive flounder and its resistance against streptococcal infection. The objective of the present study was to use comparative genomics tools to investigate genomic characteristics of strain [...] Read more.
Our previous study has shown that dietary supplementation with Lactococcus lactis WFLU12 can enhance the growth of olive flounder and its resistance against streptococcal infection. The objective of the present study was to use comparative genomics tools to investigate genomic characteristics of strain WFLU12 and the presence of genes supporting its probiotic action using sequenced genomes of L. lactis strains. Dispensable and singleton genes of strain WFLU12 were found to be more enriched in genes associated with metabolism (e.g., energy production and conversion, and carbohydrate transport and metabolism) than pooled dispensable and singleton genes in other L. lactis strains, reflecting WFLU12 strain-specific ecosystem origin and its ability to metabolize different energy sources. Strain WFLU12 produced antimicrobial compounds that could inhibit several bacterial fish pathogens. It possessed the nisin gene cluster (nisZBTCIPRKFEG) and genes encoding lysozyme and colicin V. However, only three other strains (CV56, IO-1, and SO) harbor a complete nisin gene cluster. We also found that L. lactis WFLU12 possessed many other important functional genes involved in stress responses to the gastrointestinal tract environment, dietary energy extraction, and metabolism to support the probiotic action of this strain found in our previous study. This strongly indicates that not all L. lactis strains can be used as probiotics. This study highlights comparative genomics approaches as very useful and powerful tools to select probiotic candidates and predict their probiotic effects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Probiotics and Prebiotics: Characterization and Prospects for the Development of New Drugs/Nutraceuticals)
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