Functional properties of Enterococcus faecalis isolated from colostrum drawn from Thai mothers

Colostrum from Thai mothers who went through vaginal delivery is an abundant source of antibacterial lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Twenty-two strains were isolated and selected according to the antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus TISTR 1466, Escherichia coli TISTR 780, Escherichia coli O157:H7 DMST 12743, Shigella sonnei, Shigella flexneri and Salmonella Typhimurium SA2093. Among the isolates, Enterococcus faecalis was a dominant species. It also exhibited essential probiotic characteristics such as excellent adhesion to mucin and high survival under gut stresses. In addition, the functional characteristic in terms of protein digestibility of colostrum-isolated E faecalis M125 was observed through the hydrolysis of the major allergenic bovine milk proteins. This strain was susceptible to all tested antibiotics, and had no enterococcal virulence factor encoding genes. These results supported that colostrum is a crucial source of beneficial bacteria for infant. E. faecalis M125 poses to be useful as a potential probiotic candidate for the development of functional infant formula. (C) All Rights Reserved