ISSN 2756-3413
African Journal of Virology Research ISSN 2756-3413 Vol. 15 (2), pp. 001-008, February, 2021. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Traditional Iranian dairy products: A source of potential probiotic lactobacilli
Maryam Tajabadi Ebrahimi1*, Arthur C. Ouwehand2, Mohamad A. Hejazi3 and Parvaneh Jafari4
1Islamic Azad University (IAU), Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.
2Health and Nutrition, Danisco Finland, 02460 Kantvik, Finland.
3Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), Tabriz, Iran.
4Islamic Azad University (IAU), Arak Branch, Arak, Iran.
Accepted 12 October, 2020
Abstract
A varied climate in Iran makes the production of a wide range of dairy products possible. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify new potential probiotic lactobacilli from traditional Iran dairy products. The isolates were screened for their probiotic potential activities, including acid and bile resistance, antagonistic activity and cholesterol removal. Screening of acid and bile tolerant strains from 14 different samples led to the identification of 20 isolates of Lactobacillus spp. Most promising strains which assimilated more than 75% of the cholesterol in the medium and/or exhibited high inhibition value against pathogen identified based on 16S rDNA sequence. Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus casei isolated from yogurt and cheese exhibited both high cholesterol assimilation and antagonist activity. These results suggested that, Iranian indigenous lactobacilli have potential as probiotics, and they might also be good candidates to be used as probiotic carrier or functional foods.
Key words: Traditional dairy, probiotic, cholesterol assimilation, antagonist activity.