Unique synbiotic property discovered

Through the collaboration with Professor Michiel Kleerebezem’s research group at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, Probi is entering the exciting field of synbiotics. The PhD thesis entitled “Synbiotic matchmaking in Lactobacillus plantarum for enhanced in situ delivery in the intestinal tract” is the latest publication stemming from the project and was successfully defended by Dr Jori Führen on January 8th, 2021.

Synbiotics are combinations of probiotics and prebiotics that together will confer health benefits. As part of his thesis project, Dr Führen showed that only one out of 77 tested L. plantarum strains, the Probi strain Lp900, could degrade FOS and inulin for growth. It was also shown that this ability enhanced the persistence of the strain in the intestine of rats that were fed inulin. The majority of L. plantarum strains can utilize fructose as monosaccharide but cannot normally degrade long-chain fructose-containing prebiotics like fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) or inulin.

Research in synbiotics to enhance human health has accelerated during the past 10 years, including many clinical trials. However, to our knowledge, the inulin-degrading property of Lp900 is unique and strain-specific. The synergy between Lp900 and inulin provides an opportunity to develop new synbiotic products where the prebiotic can give the probiotic a head start in the gastrointestinal tract.

Probi congratulates Dr Jori Führen on the successful defence of his PhD thesis!