Evaluation of Human Dental Plaque Lactic Acid Bacilli for Probiotic Potential and Functional Analysis in Relevance to Oral Health

Members of the lactic acid bacillus group are well-known probiotics and primarily isolated from fermented food, dairy products, intestinal and gut environment of human. Since probiotics from the human source are preferred, there exists a huge repertoire of lactobacilli in the human oral cavity which could prove a much better niche to be exploited for these beneficial microorganisms. Therefore, in this study, four lactobacilli strains, including strain DISK7, reported earlier, isolated from dental plaque samples of a healthy humans were evaluated for their probiotic potential. Strains displayed 99.9% of 16S rRNA gene sequence identity with species of the genera Lactobacillus and Limosilactobacillus. All strains showed lactic acid production, tolerance to low pH and antibiotic sensitivity. Variations were observed among strains in their aggregation ability, biofilm formation, bile salt resistance and cholesterol degradation. Further, we analyzed the interaction of strains with other oral commensals and opportunistic pathogens in co-culture experiments. Isolates DISK7 and DISK26 exhibited high co-aggregation (> 70%) with secondary colonizers, Streptococcus pyogenes and Veillonella parvula, respectively, but their aggregation ability was decreased with opportunistic pathogens. Furthermore, strains showed a substantial increase in biofilm in co-culture with other Lactobacillus isolates, indicating their ability to proliferate commensal bacteria in the oral environment. These microbes continually evolve in terms of niche adaptation as evidenced in genome analysis. The highlight of the investigation is the isolation and evaluation of the probiotic lactobacilli from the human oral cavity, which could prove a much better niche to be exploited for the effective commercialization of these beneficial microbes. Taken together, probiotic properties and interaction with commensal bacteria, these isolates exhibit the huge potential to be developed as alternative bioresource agents for maintenance of oral health.