Evaluation of adhesion properties and antibacterial activities of the infant gut commensal Bifidobacterium bifidum PRL2010

Serafini, Fausta et al.
Bifidobacteria are extensively exploited by the food industry as health-promoting microorganisms. However, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for these beneficial activities, or the molecular players that sustain their ability to colonize and persist within the human gut. Here, we have investigated the enteric adaptation features of the gut commensal Bifidobacterium bifidum PRL2010, originally isolated from infant feces. This strain was able to survive under gastrointestinal challenges, while it was shown to adhere to human epithelial intestinal cell monolayers (Caco 2 and HT-29), thereby inhibiting adhesion of pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Cronobacter sakazakii. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
This work was also financially supported by Fondazione Cariparma to MV, by FEMS Advanced Fellowship 2011 and an IRCSET Embark postdoctoral fellowship to FT. DvS is a member of The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, which is a Centre for Science and Technology (CSET) funded by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), through the Irish Government's National Development Plan (Grant no. 02/CE/B124 and 07/CE/B1368). The grant I-LINK2010-0122, funded by CSIC, is also acknowledged.