ILS scientists discover new health-promoting probiotic bacteria

BHUBANESWAR: Researchers of the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) Bhubaneswar, a centre of biotechnology research, discovered a new health promoting probiotic bacteria which can be useful in the prevention and control of multiple health associated problems.
Name of this bacteria is Ligilactobacillus salivarious F14. It was found from the gut of tribal people of Odisha. It was the result of a research project on tribal health and nutrition started by the institute with the support of the department of biotechnology of the Centre three years ago.
Under this program, multiple scientists of ILS are supervising different aspects of studies that could improve the health and wellbeing of Odisha’s tribes. In one of its studies, the ILS team planned to explore the use of beneficial microorganisms to improve the health status of these people, said the official sources.
“Probiotics are good microbes that provide health benefits to humans and animals when taken live in adequate amounts. These helpful organisms are known to be useful in the prevention and control of multiple health associated problems like diarrhoea, obesity and many immunological disorders,” said an ILS statement.
Shantibhusan Senapaiti’s group from ILS has isolated multiple probiotics and characterized those. Recently, the group has published the whole genome sequence and other probiotic properties of one of the helpful bacteria. This study has been published in the ‘World journal of microbiology and biotechnology’, a reputed international journal in this field.
Jayalaxmi Dash and Manisha Sethi, the lead authors of this publication, have mentioned that the whole genome sequencing has already been completed for three more probiotics and the sequences have been submitted to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database in the USA.
Senapati said this organism will be more beneficial to the tribal people of Odisha and help in improving the overall health status in future. “In future, we can use these probiotics in functional food for better health,” he added.
Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, director of ILS and the principal investigator of the ILS-flagship project, said the institute will give effort in a more elaborate manner to develop functional foods by using these probiotics in future.