Isolation and characterisation of probiotic lactic acid bacteria from Malaysian fermented fish products budu and bosou

Budu (BUM) is mainly produced in Kelantan and Terengganu, while bosou (BO) is an ethnic fermented food originated from Sabah. These fermented foods are typically consumed as condiments for flavour enhancement of meals. In the present work, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from both fermented fish products were screened in vitro for their probiotic attributes, following the FAO/WHO guidelines. The acid and bile tolerance, haemolytic, and antimicrobial activities, as well as resistance against antibiotics were examined. A total of 42 isolates were characterised by a preliminary subtractive screening method (catalase-negative and Grain-positive cocci/bacilli). Of these, 14 isolates (four isolates from BO and ten isolates from BUM) could tolerate the high acidic conditions, thus were further tested for other probiotic characteristics, and molecularly identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. These isolates demonstrated survival rates above 90 and 50% when exposed to pH as low as 2.5 and 0.3% bile salts, respectively. These isolates also did not display beta-haemolytic properties, and could retard the growth of all indicator pathogens to varying degrees. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the BO and BUM isolates were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum and L. paracasei, respectively, with 98% similarities to the nucleotide sequences existing in the GenBank database. These findings suggested that LAB isolated from both budu and bosou could be a promising probiotic potential, hence could be further developed as medicinal agents. (C) All Rights Reserved