Beneficial Microbes: Food, Pharma, Aqua & Beverages Industry

Biography

Biography: Zhigang (Peter) Zhou

Abstract

The mechanism underlying the variety of health benefits of probiotic Lactobacillus remains poorly understood (Marco et al., 2006). During the last decade, a substantial body of scientific evidence has accumulated suggesting that certain surface-associated and extracellular components produced by Lactobacillus could be responsible for some of their mechanisms of action. They are thought to play essential roles in the molecular intercommunication between host-bacteria, and in the monitoring of the bacterial environment (van Pijkeren et al., 2006). In Lactobacillus, these probiotic effector molecules could be responsible for some of probiotic traits, such as pathogen inhibition and immunomodulation (Buck et al., 2005), and it is urgently to exploit more probiotic effector molecules in order to have a better understanding of how commensal, probiotic, and pathogenic microorganisms interact with one another and the mammalian host. In this presentation, we systematically review the most interesting aspects of probiotic effector molecules derived from genera Lactobacillus. Additionally, the potential mechanisms of specific probiotic effector factors and the responses they can induce in the host will also be discussed. We also wish to provide some insights for further elucidation of microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions involved in the probiotic effects of Lactobacillus at the molecular and cellular levels.