Characterization and in vitro assessment of probiotic potential of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum BXM2 from fermented honey passion fruit beverage

Abstract A potential probiotic strain BXM2 was isolated from naturally fermented honey passion fruit beverage, and identified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum using 16S rDNA sequence analysis, rpoA gene sequence analysis combined with API bacterial identification method. BXM2 was evaluated for its probiotic and technological properties, such as growth efficiency, gastrointestinal tolerance, antibacterial activity and antibiotic resistance. The results showed that the optimum growth efficiency of BXM2 was achieved under the fermentation temperature ranged from 30°C to 37°C. The initial content of BXM2 (8.50 log CFU/mL) was decreased to 7.53 log CFU/mL after 3 h treatment in simulated gastric fluid (pH = 3.0) and 8.12 log CFU/mL after 6 h treatment in simulated intestinal fluid (pH = 8.0) ( p < .05). BXM2 showed active antibacterial activity against oral pathogens ( Streptococcus mutans , Prevotella intermedia ) and foodborne pathogens ( Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus , Shigella sonnei , Salmonella Typhimurium , Proteus mirabilis ) with average diameters of inhibition zones ranging from 11.00 to 21.67 mm. Autoaggregation rate of BXM2 was 55.41% and coaggregation rates with the tested pathogens ranged from 34.05% to 86.42%. The antibiotic resistance test showed that BXM2 was safe and sensitive to most of the antibiotics. This study provides valuable information for future investigation and industrial application of this selected strain BXM2.