Identification and Evaluation of in vitro Probiotic Attributes of Novel and Potential Strains of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Traditional Dairy Products of North-West Himalayas

Background: Fermented dairy products of north-west Himalayas (Himachal Pradesh) are rich sources of potential and novel probiotic isolates which further can be explored for their commercial application.Results: The two potential isolates Pediococcus acidilactici KM0 (accession number- KX671557) and Lactobacillus casei KL14 (KX774469) isolated from traditional fermented dairy products- noni-milk cream and lassi had shown a great potential as probiotics by exhibiting different desirable traits i.e. (that is) low pH tolerance, bile tolerance, autoaggregation, co-aggregation with pathogenic bacteria, cell surface hydrophobicity against O-xylene, antimicrobial activity against challenging food borne pathogens and antibiotic sensitivity thus advocating them as robust candidates for commercial application after going through clinical trials.Main findings: Both the probiotic strains isolated from dairy products identifi ed as Pediococcus acidilactici KM0 (accession number- KX671557) and Lactobacillus casei KL14 (KX774469) had been first time reported here to be potential probiotics exhibiting high acidity tolerance i.e. pH 1, 2 and 3, resisting high bile salt concentration i.e. upto 2.0%. The two isolates expressed good autoaggregation capacity i.e. greater than 40% after 5 h and showed strong hydrophobicity towards xylene i.e. > 40% with overall high cumulative score of 91.6 and 95.8% respectively.Conclusion: The desirable attributes of these new probiotic strains strongly favor the possibility of their survival in harsh and complex habitat i.e. gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) and thus can be of commercial interest.Brief summary: Characterization of selected lactic acid bacteria for probiotic characters (acid tolerance, bile tolerance, autoaggregation, coaggregation, hydrophobicity and antibiotic sensitivity) was done to categorize them as robust probiotics and both of these first time isolated strains had shown cumulative score as high as of 91.6 and 95.8% thus turning them highly desirable from pharmaceutical industry point of view.