Lactobacillus with decreased lipoteichoic acid to reduce inflammatory responses

A composition comprising a bacterium having a decreased display of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) on the surface of said bacterium, wherein the bacterium comprises a deletion or substitution of at least one base pair of a polynucleotide encoding a phosphoglycerol transferase such that the expression of the phosphoglycerol transferase is decreased compared to a control bacterium,

• wherein said polynucleotide encoding the phosphoglycerol transferase comprises a nucleotide sequence having at least 85% sequence identity to the nucleic acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:1,
• wherein the bacterium does not contain an antibiotic selection marker within said polynucleotide encoding the phosphoglycerol transferase, and
• wherein said bacterium is present in a concentration of about 105 CFU/gram to about 1012 CFU/gram or at about 105 CFU/ml to about 1012 CFU/ml.