Isolation, identification, and selection of strains as candidate probiotics and starters for fermentation of Swedish legumes

Background: The non-dairy sector is growing, fermented alternatives to dairy are sparse. Adapted starter cultures to substituting raw materials needs to be developed.Objective: Aims of this study were to isolate, identify, and phenotypically characterize lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that inhabit Swedish legumes, and assess properties necessary for selecting strains with the ability to ferment a bean beverage and with potential health beneficial properties.Design: Isolates of presumed LAB were obtained from legumes collected at 6land, Sweden. Strain diversity was assessed by repetitive polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR). The strains were identified using\ua0 matrix- assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Species belonging to Enterococcus were predominant along with Pediococcus and closely related Bacillus. Strains were tested for tolerance to low pH, phenol, and bile as well as their bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity. In addition, Enterococcus strains were tested for antibiotic resistance, and Pediococcus strains for their ability to ferment a bean beverage.Results: From the 25 strains char acterized, five were found resistant to low pH, bile, and phenol, suggesting that they can survive a passage through the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and hence potentially exert beneficial effects in the host. These are suggested for further investigation on specific host-beneficial properties. Two of these, belonging to Pediococ cus pentosaceus, were able to ferment a bean beverage without any added nutrients, indicating that the Pediococcus strains are well adapted to the bean substrate. One of the P. pentosaceus strains were also able to markedly improve the reduction of phytate by the phytase-producing yeast strain Pichia kudriavzevii TY1322 during co-fermentation as well as increase the final cell count of the yeast strain.Conclusion: Strain isolation and characterization performed in this study aids in selecting starter cultures for legume fermentation. Nutritional properties can be improved by co-fermentation with yeast indicating that novel nutritious fermented non-dairy products could be developed

Identifying radiation-induced survivorship syndromes affecting bowel health in a cohort of gynecological cancer survivors

Background: During radiotherapy unwanted radiation to normal tissue surrounding the tumor triggers survivorship diseases; we lack a nosology for radiation-induced survivorship diseases that decrease bowel health and we do not know which symptoms are related to which diseases. Methods: Gynecological-cancer survivors were followed-up two to 15 years after having undergone radiotherapy; they reported in a postal questionnaire the frequency of 28 different symptoms related to bowel health. Population-based controls gave the same information. With a modified factor analysis, we determined the optimal number of factors, factor loadings for each symptom, factor-specific factor-loading cutoffs and factor scores. Results: Altogether data from 623 survivors and 344 population-based controls were analyzed. Six factors best explain the correlation structure of the symptoms; for five of these a statistically significant difference (

Optical mapping of single DNA molecules in nanochannels: A novel method for identification and characterization of antibiotic resistance

The use, and overuse, of antibiotics has during the last decade led to a dramatic increase in antibiotic resistance and there is a crying need for novel methods for fast identification of antibiotic resistance genes. We here demonstrate how our previously developed assay for optical mapping of DNA in nanochannels can be used for characterization of resistance genes located on plasmid DNA from bacteria. The assay requires extremely small sample volumes and does neither rely on PCR, nor culturing of bacteria, which greatly reduces the time for analysis