Fresh plant matrices of food interest host complex microbial communities. Within these microbial ecosystems, biochemical and ecological interactions are relevant in contributing to food quality and safety. In particular, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play key roles in fermentative processes, bioprotection, and bioactivity. Despite their well-recognised importance in food biotechnology, the ecological dynamics and metabolic versat...

Upon dietary administration, probiotic microorganisms can reach as live cells the human gut, where they interact with the microbiota and host cells, thereby exerting a beneficial impact on host functions, mainly through immune-modulatory activities. Recently, attention has been drawn by postbiotics, i.e. non-viable probiotic microbes, including their metabolic products, which possess biological activities that benefit the host...

Honey is a valuable reservoir of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and, particularly, of fructophilic LAB (FLAB), a relatively novel subgroup of LAB whose functional potential for human and food application has yet to be explored. In this study, FLAB and LAB strains have been isolated from honeys of different floral origins and selected for their broad antimicrobial activity against typical foodborne pathogenic bacteria and spoilage...

Objective We investigated whether the knock out of small heat shock protein (sHSP) genes ( hsp1 , hsp2 and hsp3 ) impact on probiotic features of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum WCFS1, aiming to find specific microbial effectors involved in microbe-host interplay. Results The probiotic properties of L. plantarum WCFS1 wild type, hsp1 , hsp2 and hsp3 mutant clones were evaluated and compared through in vitro trials. Oro-gastro-in...