Isolation, identification, and in vitro probiotic characterization of forty novel Bifidobacterium strains from neonatal feces in Erzurum province, Türkiye

Abstract BACKGROUND Neonatal feces are one of the most important sources for probiotic isolation. The purpose of this study was the isolation and identification of Bifidobacterium spp. from neonatal feces and the evaluation of in vitro probiotic properties of strains including safety tests. RESULTS A total of 40 isolates were obtained from 14 healthy newborns' feces in Erzurum province, Türkiye. By their rep‐PCR patterns and 16S rRNA gene sequences, isolates were identified as 26 Bifidobacterium breve and 14 Bifidobacterium longum . Fifteen of the isolates tolerated bile salts and showed high resistance to simulated gastric juice. Isolates exhibited varying rates of auto‐aggregation and hydrophobicity. In addition, most of the isolates displayed antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Salmonella Typhimurium RSHMB 95091, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027. However, only one strain showed bile salt hydrolase activity and two strains showed the ability to produce H 2 O 2 . Bifidobacterium strains were generally sensitive to the tested antibiotics and lacked kanamycin, gentamicin, and streptomycin resistance genes, and hemolytic and DNAse activities. On the other hand, it was determined that five strains had various virulence genes including gelE , esp , efaAfs , hyl , and ace . CONCLUSION Results of the present study suggested that B. longum BH28, B. breve BH4 and B. breve BH5 strains have the potential as probiotic candidates for further studies. © 2024 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.