Direct identification of bifidobacteria from probiotic supplements

Bunesova V., Vlkova E., Rada V., Hovorkova P., Musilova S., Kmeť V. (2014): Direct identification of bifidobacteria from probiotic supplements. Czech J. Food Sci., 32: 132–136. The DNA of 14 probiotic supplements was isolated directly from various products without previous cultivation. The bifidobacteria composition declared by the manufacturer was determined by species-specific PCR. Such species found were in accordance with those listed on the products . This approach can be performed in less than 5 h and is applicable to other genera of probiotic bacteria. Bifidobacteria were also detected by culture-dependent analysis and MALDI-TOF MS. These methods drew the same results; however, they are more expensive and time consuming. So, we propose direct identification of bifidobacteria for routine quality control inspections of species composition in probiotic supplements.