The life history of Lactobacillus acidophilus as a probiotic: a tale of revisionary taxonomy, misidentification and commercial success. Issue 2 (24th October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bull, Matthew; Plummer, Sue; Marchesi, Julian; Mahenthiralingam, Eshwar
• Is Part Of: FEMS microbiology letters. Volume 349:Issue 2(2013:Dec.)
• Page Start: 77
• Page End: 87
• Publication Date: 2013-10-24
• Subjects: Microbiology -- Periodicals; 579
• DOI: 10.1111/1574-6968.12293
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0378-1097

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="fml12293-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p> <italic>Lactobacillus acidophilus</italic> is a commercially significant bacterial probiotic, originally isolated from the human gastrointestinal tract and designated <italic>Bacillus acidophilus</italic> in 1900. Throughout the development of methods to identify and characterise bacteria, <italic>L. acidophilus</italic> has undergone multiple taxonomic revisions and is now the type species of a phylogenetic subgroup in the highly diverse and heterogeneous <italic>Lactobacillus</italic> genus. As a result of the limitations of differentiating phenotypically similar species by morphological and biochemical means and revisionary nature of <italic>Lactobacillus</italic> taxonomy, the characterisation of <italic>L. acidophilus</italic> has struggled with misidentification and misrepresentation. In contrast, due to its global use as a probiotic supplement in functional foods, <italic>L. acidophilus sensu stricto</italic> is now one of the most well‐characterised <italic>Lactobacillus</italic> species. Here, we establish the provenance of <italic>L. acidophilus</italic> strains, unpicking historical and current misidentifications of <italic>L. acidophilus</italic>, and reviewing the probiotic, genomic and physiological characteristics of this important <italic>Lactobacillus</italic> species.</p> </abstract>