Effect on Cellular Membrane Fatty Acids in the Stressed Cells of Leuconostoc Mesenteroides: A Native Probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria

Probiotics are microbial cell preparations or components of microbial cells that have a
beneficial effect on the health and well being of the consumer. With increasing demand
for such products, a lactic acid bacterium was isolated from whey and studied for its
probiotic properties. This study deals with the importance of the role of cell membrane
fatty acids in response to a pH reduction. An increase of unsaturated fatty acids such
as palmitoleic acid (9.1%), oleic acid (5.8%), linoeic acid (5.4%) and linolenic acid (2.8%)
was found at pH 3.0, which were 103.2, 2.7, 15.6 and 9.93 fold higher, respectively,
compared with the same culture grown at pH 6.5. The work was done on a native isolated
culture, which was identified as Leuconostoc mesenteroides (Accession number
MTCC 5209). It has antimicrobial properties against 6 toxic food pathogens and resistance
to common antibiotics so as to maintain normal intestinal microflora. It has high
b-galactosidase activity (278.6 micro M/100 mg protein) and can hydrolyze 3% lactose.
The ability to adhere hydrocarbon provides evidence that the culture can adhere and
colonize the intestinal tract. The culture is able to tolerate low pH and a high bile salt
concentration, which implies the ability to survive harsh conditions of the gastrointestinal
tract when orally administered in any food formulations. All these properties
make it a potential probiotic culture.