Lactic acid bacteria, methods and uses thereof
AssigneeBiogaia AB
InventorStefan ROOS
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to novel strains of lactic acid bacteria, more specifically, novel strains of Lactobacillus reuteri, capable of utilizing ethanolamine. This characteristic makes it possible for the bacteria to compete for the same substrate as pathogenic ethanolamine-utilizing pathogens, thereby presenting an effective means to combat infections resulting from such pathogenic bacteria. There is also provided a method of selecting further ethanolamine-utilizing lactic acid bacteria, as well as other methods and uses involving said novel strains and other ethanolamine-utilizing lactic acid bacteria.
Claims32
A method of selecting a lactic acid bacterial strain capable of utilizing ethanolamine, said method comprising the steps of:
- i) providing bacteria of a lactic acid bacterial strain in a culture medium and growing a culture of said bacteria,
- ii) determining if said bacteria are capable of utilizing ethanolamine;
- and
- iii) selecting said lactic acid bacterial strain if said bacteria are capable of utilizing ethanolamine,
- wherein said culture medium comprises an amount or concentration of ethanolamine and/or an amount or concentration of ethanolamine is added to the culture of step i) at a point in time before step ii).
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein said lactic acid bacteria are bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus.
Lactic acid bacteria selected by the method of any one of the preceding claims.
A method of producing lactic acid bacteria induced to utilize ethanolamine, said method comprising the steps of:
- i) providing lactic acid bacteria capable of utilizing ethanolamine in a culture medium,
- ii) adding to the culture medium of step i) a first amount or concentration of ethanolamine at a first point in time and growing said culture,
- iii) optionally adding to the culture of step ii) a second amount or concentration of ethanolamine at a second point in time and growing said culture, and thereafter;
- iv) retrieving the lactic acid bacteria from said culture medium.
A composition comprising ethanolamine-utilizing lactic acid bacteria induced by ethanolamine during growth of a culture comprising said lactic acid bacteria.
A biologically pure culture of Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 27131.
A biologically pure culture of Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 32465.
A method of selecting a lactic acid bacterial strain capable of utilizing ethanolamine comprising determining a genetic profile of said lactic acid bacteria, said method comprising the steps of:
- i) providing bacteria of a lactic acid bacterial strain to be screened;
- ii) performing an initial screening of said lactic acid bacterial strain, to determine the presence of one or more of the bacterial homologues of the genes encoding the following proteins;
- 1. Ethanolamine ammonia lyase large subunit EutB;
- 2. Microcompartment structural protein EutL;
- and/or
- 3. Ethanolamine utilization protein EutH;
- in said lactic acid bacterial strain
- iii) if one or more of said genes are present in said lactic acid bacterial strain, determining if said bacteria are capable of utilizing ethanolamine;
- and
- iv) selecting said lactic acid bacterial strain if said bacteria are capable of utilizing ethanolamine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.