Recent Advances and Future Perspective in Microbiota and Probiotics

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Editorial
Recent Advances and Future Perspective in
Microbiota and Probiotics
Haruki Kitazawa,1Susana Alvarez,2Alexander Suvorov,3Vyacheslav Melnikov,4
Julio Villena,2and Borja Sánchez5
1Food and Feed Immunology Group, Laboratory of Animal Products Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural Science,
Tohoku University, Sendai 981-8555, Japan
2Laboratory of Immunobiotechnology, CERELA-CONOCET, 4000 Tucuman, Argentina
3Department of Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Saint Petersburg 197376, Russia
4International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), Moscow 127374, Russia
5Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry of Dairy Products, IPLA-CSIC, 32004 Ourense, Spain
Correspondence should be addressed to Haruki Kitazawa; haruki@bios.tohoku.ac.jp and Julio Villena; jcvillena@cerela.org.ar
Received 10 February 2015; Accepted 10 February 2015
Copyright © 2015 Haruki Kitazawa et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Recent studies have highlighted the critical role of intestinal
microbes on health. e various bacterial communities in
the gut have many functions including metabolic, barrier
eect, and trophic and immunological functions. e gut
microbiota therefore performs a large number of important
roles that dene the physiology of the host. Advances in the
understanding of microbiota interaction with the host have
irrevocably altered the view of mammalian metabolism and
gut biology. As stated by Kinross et al. [1], “human gut biology
and metabolism is not only inuenced by the human genome,
butacoregutmicrobiomeexistwithinthehumangut,atleast
at a genomic or metabolic level, and this is fundamental to the
maintenance of health, the development of disease and human
metabolic processes.”
e understanding of the gut microbiota and its activities
is essential for the generation of future personalized health-
care strategies. In this regard, there is a growing body of
evidence to support the potential use of selected bacterial
strains in the prevention and treatment of various human
and animal diseases. Numerous studies including dierent
probiotic strains have been performed in humans and animal
models to investigate their benecial eects [2–4]. Overall
there is encouraging evidence that specic probiotic strains
are valuable in the prevention and treatment of dierent dis-
eases and their successful application is related to the better
understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of
probiotic action.
Studies have provided insight into the mechanisms by
which probiotic bacteria are able to regulate the colonization
and eradication of pathogens in the gut, including competi-
tion for limited nutrients in the intestine and modulation of
the mucosal immune system [4,5]. In addition, it has been
well established that probiotics are an important prophylactic
or therapeutic strategy for many mucosal and nonmucosal
immune-related conditions, such as inammatory bowel
diseases (IBDs), celiac disease, metabolic syndrome, and
diabetes [6]. In this regard, results from experiments in
animal models of IBDs overwhelmingly support a causal role
of the microbiota in these diseases. In this special issue, A.
Hevia et al. explored the levels of antibodies raised against
extracellular proteins produced by dierent food bacteria
from the genera Bidobacterium and Lactobacillus,inhealthy
individuals and IBDs patients. e authors found that IBD
patients appeared to have dierent immune responses to food
bacteria. e work could set the basis for developing systems
for early detection of IBD, based on the association of high
levels of antibodies developed against extracellular proteins
from lactic acid bacteria. On the other hand, data from
animal models of colitis have indicated that specic probiotic
Lactobacillus and Bidobacterium strains could prevent and
treat intestinal inammation. e study of R. Chauhan et
al. was undertaken to evaluate the antioxidative potentials
of Lactobacillus fermentum Lf1, a promising indigenous
probiotic Lactobacillus strain, to manage oxidative stress and
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modulation of lipid peroxidation in vitro and in vivo. e
authorsshowedinintestinalepithelialcellsculturesandin
a DSS colitis mouse model that the probiotic strain Lf1 was
able to increase the expression of antioxidative enzymes and
reduce colitis, indicating that probiotics could be explored
as a new strategy for IBD management through activation
of the antioxidant enzyme system. In addition, J. Breton
et al. studied the direct immune responses to alimentary
bers in murine model of experimental colitis. e study
strongly suggests that intrinsic, nonprebiotic-driven eects
of selected oligosaccharide and polysaccharide bers can
inuence immunomodulatory functions and that these bers
could be used to enhance dietary interventions for the
treatment of inammatory disorders such as IBD and other
diseases with an immune component. e use of bers
alone or in combination with selected probiotics (symbiotic
preparations) could be considered as a promise intervention
tool for inammatory diseases.
Fermented dairy foods result from the metabolic activ-
ity of complex and heterogeneous bacterial communities;
then these dairy fermented products contain a complex,
live microbial consortium mostly represented by lactic acid
bacteria, which enter the human body and reach the gas-
trointestinal tract, where they can transiently interact with
the resident gut microora of the host. e interplay between
these two microbial communities can greatly contribute
to human health. However, evaluation of the interaction
between these microbial populations has the obstacle of the
lack of simple model organisms suitable for these studies.
In this special issue, the work of E. Zanni et al. tested the
nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a simple animal model
to evaluate the eects of a complex food-derived microbiota
on well characterized metabolic pathways. Authors provide
evidence that feeding C. elegans with a lactic acid bacteria
consortium inuences longevity, larval development, fertility,
lipid accumulation, and gene expression related to obesity in
this model organism, as supported by transcriptional analysis
of some genes involved in fat metabolism. e work clearly
demonstrates the applicability of C. elegans model in the eld
of host-microbiota interaction.
Currently, the use of genetically modied commensal
and lactic acid bacteria to deliver compounds of health
interest is gaining importance as an extension of the probiotic
concept [7]. Most of the works using recombinant friendly
bacteria are mainly related to vaccines. Several antigens from
pathogens have been expressed in genetically engineered
lactic acid bacteria and these recombinant bacteria have
been successfully used for inducing protective immunity
in animal models. However, recombinant friendly bacteria
canbealsousedforexploringnoveleectivestrategies
to deliver therapeutic molecules to the mucosal tissues in
order to avoid degradation. In this special issue P. Kumar
et al. studied the potential benecial eects of E. coli 16
expressing Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene, associated with bac-
terial respiration under microaerobic condition, on carbon
tetrachloride induced toxicity in rats. e work showed
that the presence of Vitreoscil la hemoglobin gene improved
the growth and intestinal tract colonization of E. coli 16.
Moreover, recombinant E. coli 16 enhanced catalase activity
in rats, prevented absorption of carbon tetrachloride in the
intestine, and ameliorated hepatotoxicity. On the other hand,
S. Shigemori et al. developed a 𝛽-lactoglobulin-secreting
Lactococcus lactis and demonstrated that this recombinant
strain is able to inhibit dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV)
activity. DPP-IV is a serine protease and its endogenous phys-
iological substrates are incretins. e incretins are primarily
glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide and glucagon-
like peptide-1, which drive insulin secretion in pancreatic
𝛽cells and suppress pancreatic glucagon production. us,
DPP-IVinhibitorsareusedinthemanagementoftype2
diabetes mellitus.
In summary, this special issue covers a range of diverse
topics related to microbiota and probiotic in gut health
and disease, thus highlighting the potential benecial role
friendly bacteria in human health. We hope the papers pub-
lished will serve to further highlight the potential application
of probiotics for the prevention and treatment of gut diseases,
as well as stimulating further research into the cellular and
molecular mechanisms of probiotic actions.
Haruki Kitazawa
Susana Alvarez
Alexander Suvorov
Vyac h eslav Melni k ov
Julio Villena
Borja S´
anchez
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