Assessment of probiotic characteristics of lactic acid bacteria isolated from fermented yak milk products of Sikkim, India: Chhurpi, Shyow, and Khachu

ABSTRACT

The present study documents the probiotic attributes of indigenous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from local fermented Yak milk products namely Chhurpi, Shyow and Khachu prepared in the northern and eastern region of Sikkim in the Himalayas. Samples were collected aseptically and a total of 170 LAB was isolated and screened for putative probiotic properties like hypocholesteromic effect, acid tolerance, bile tolerance, bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity and cell surface hydrophobicity. It was observed that 70 LAB isolates showed cholesterol lowering activity, out of which 35 isolates were selected that showed 50% and less cholesterol reducing effect in vitro. Acid tolerance test revealed good tolerance of 12 isolates at pH 2.5 and pH 2.0 for up to 2 hours. The tolerance to 0.5% and 1% of three bile salts acid revealed more growth in MRS broth containing taurocholic acid with the isolates revealing good BSH activity leading to bile acid deconjugation. The cell surface hydrophobicity ranged from 20–95%. Furthermore, 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed Lactobacillus plantarum YD5S and YD9S, L. pentosus YD8S, L. paraplantarum YD11S, Enterococcus lactis YHC20 and E. faecium YY1 as the best isolates with technological properties. The isolates may serve as potential probiotic candidates with potential for hypocholesteromic benefits in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Fermented milk products
• hypocholesteromic
• BSH activity
• probiotics
• Lactobacillus
• Enterococcus
• 16S rRNA

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Sikkim University for providing the infrastructure and laboratory facilities. They are also grateful to Dr Rajeev Kungur Brahma, Dept. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Assam, for helping with sequence analysis. They are also very thankful to the UGC for granting Rajiv Gandhi National fellowship for PhD work.