Bacteriocin-producing Probiotics

The replacement effect has also been studied in the oral microbiota. In this case bacteriocin-producing probiotics have been shown to have positive effects replacing the cariogenic bacteria. 

There are several reasons for the limited success in commercial application of bacteriocins. Their physiochemical properties seem to be an obstacle when applied in a chemically complex environment such as food and feed. Being positively charged and hydrophobic/anphiphilic they will attach to negatively charged and/or lipophilic surfaces/molecules that will actually make the bacteriocins less available to reach target bacteria. There have been a great number of excellent works and reviews in recent years that directly deal with applications of bactoiocins in foods, therefore this field will not be treated in this review. We will focus on medical-related applications of bacteriocins and the potential of bacteriocin-producing bacteria as probiotics. 

Flynn, S., van Sinderen, D., Thornton, G.M., et al. (2002). Characterization of the genetic locus responsible for the production of ABP-118, a no vel bacteriocin produced by the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus salivarius subsp. sali-varius UCC118. Microbiology 148, 973-984. 

Lastly, bacteriocins, a large set of ribosomal antibiotic peptides are produced by numerous strains of bacteria associated with marine invertebrates and vertebrates. Bacteriocin-producing bacteria mainly belong to the genera Aeromonas, Alteromonas, Cytophaga-Flavohacterium-Bacteroides group, Pseudoalteromonas and Vibrio. Bacteriocins and bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances (BUS) could be used as probiotics in the aquaculture industry (Desriac et al, 2010). 

Some probiotics produce anti-microbial agents targeting important gastrointestinal pathogens which is a desirable characteristic. Many lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria have been shown to produce bacteriocin-like molecules with different spectrums of activity. 

Remarks Some strains are used as probiotics in animals, can produce entero-toxins (bacteriocin 31, enterotoxins A, B, P and 50) ... 

From the ileal-caecal region of the human GI tract, a probiotic Lact. salivarius subsp. salivarius was isolated and found to produce the two-peptide bacteriocin ABP-118, which is discussed at the... 

In a study with fecal samples from piglets, a Lact. reuteri isolate was shown to produce a bacteriocin-like substance and it was shown that the same type of bacteria were found in porcine milk obtained from the same population of pigs (Bohle et al. 2010). Probiotic bacteria are shown to effectively promote the health status of pigs (Cho 2011), and recently a patent for probiotic supplement for the diet of pigs was filed and one of the strains included in this patent does indeed produce a bacteriocin (Stanton et al. 2012). 

Production of antagonistic compounds Several probiotics have been selected for their ability to produce compounds that are inhibitory towards the proliferation of (opportunistic) pathogens (Verschuere et al, 2000). In that way, they can be considered to be natural antibiotics. The bactericidal or bacteriostatic activity can mostly be ascribed to the production of bacteriocins, lysozymes, hydrogen peroxide, carbon dioxide or siderophores and/or the alteration in pH by the production of organic acids (Verschuere et al, 2000 Vine et al., 2006). TTie production of antagonistic compounds is a common trait for both marine and... 

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