Probiotic activity traits in vitro and production of antimicrobial peptides by Lactobacillaceae isolates from pulque using Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM as control

The objective of this work was to determine in vitro probiotic activity traits of 11 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains isolated from pulque obtained from three different locations in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Puebla using the probiotic strain Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM as a positive control, and to detect their production of antimicrobial peptides, including bacteriocins and peptidoglycan hydrolases (PGH). The LAB isolates were identified by sequencing of their 16S rRNA as belonging to four different genera of the Lactobacillaceae family: Lactiplantibacillus, Levilactobacillus, Lacticaseibacillus and Liquorilactobacillus, corresponding to the species plantarum, brevis, paracasei and ghanensis, respectively. Most of the strains showed resistance to high acidity (pH 2) and bile salts (0.5%), with survival rates up to 87 and 92%, respectively. In addition, most of the strains presented good antimicrobial activity against the foodborne pathogens Listeria monocytogenes, ECEC and Salmonella Typhi. The strain Liquorilactobacillus ghanensis RVG6, newly reported in pulque, presented an outstanding overall performance on the probiotic activity tests. In terms of their probiotic activity traits assessed in this work, the strains compared positively with the control L. acidophilus NCFM, which is a very-well documented probiotic strain. For the antimicrobial peptide studies, four strains presented bacteriocin-like mediated antibiosis and six had significant PGH activity, with two strains presenting outstanding overall antimicrobial peptide production: Lacticaseibacillus paracasei RVG3 and Levilactobacillus brevis UTMB2. The probiotic performance of the isolates was mainly dependent on strain specificity. The results obtained in this work can foster the revalorization of pulque as a functional natural product.