A feasible probiotic solution through Polish fermented foods to compensate for phytate-linked nutritional deficiency

Purpose: Phytate, an anti-nutritional compound, chelates essential minerals and creates a nutritional deficiency in monogastric animals such as humans. They lack sufficient phytase-producing bacteria in their intestine for phytate degradation. Probiotic bacteria are commonly consumed in humans and can be used as a feasible solution to this problem. Therefore, bacteria isolated from Polish fermented foods were tested for in vitro phytase production and probiotic validation in this study. Methods: Experimentally, ten bacterial strains were isolated from fermented foods on MRS agar. These bacteria were initially screened for phytate hydrolysis in phytase screening medium plates. Out of ten, two bacterial strains were positive for phytase production and these activities were quantified using ammonium molybdate method. The same bacterial strains were subjected to morphological, biochemical, and molecular characterization followed by probiotic validation. Results: The bacteria produced extracellular phytases with phytate reduction zones of 30 ± 0.02 mm and 17 ± 0.05 mm respectively. Also, they yielded phytase activities of 60.35 ± 3.83 U and 32.82 ± 5.76 U respectively. The bacteria were Gram-positive and rod-shaped in morphology. The isolated bacterium from PO2 showed 100% sequence identity to Lactobacillus spp., L. plantarum, L. pentosus, L. paraplantarum, and L. fabifermentans while PO7 displayed a 100% sequence identity to Lactobacillus brevis. The isolated bacteria were found to be Lactobacillus spp. PO2 and PO7. These bacteria from PO2 and PO7 showed maximum susceptibilities towards gentamycin and imipenem with inhibition zones of 30 ± 0.05 mm and 17 ± 0.1 mm respectively. Conclusion: The above results prove that isolated bacteria can be used as potential probiotics for intestinal phytate degradation. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]