Journal of Probiotics & Health
Open Access

Probiotic Lactobacillus and the Recent Taxonomic Change to Some Species

Kayode Titus Adu^{* *}Correspondence: Kayode Titus Adu, Merieux NutriSciences, Sydney, Australia, Tel: +61449855379, Email:

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Editorial

You’re welcome to volume 8 Issue 3 of the Journal of Probiotics and Health. Despite the current global pandemic, the Journal has continued to forge ahead to publish novel findings in probiotics and health by great scientists and researchers following our thorough peer-reviewed processes. As many of you must have read, the long-awaited taxonomic change to bacteria is out. Once fully accepted, the new taxonomic change will affect the probiotic industry (especially in product labelling) and probiotic research institutions. Probiotics continue to play essential roles in boosting health in human and animal. The health benefits of most probiotics are achieved through their interactions with the host immune system, competition with pathogenic organisms in the gastrointestinal tracts, mucosal barrier function improvement and production of antiinflammatory and anti-microbial substances. Of the known beneficial bacteria, Lactobacillus strains have continued to play significant roles as probiotics. Lactobacillus species have been implicated in several beneficial functions, including the improvement of hepatic conditions such as cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and viral hepatitis by immunomodulation and reduction of pathogenic bacterial toxin among other mechanisms. Although the genus Lactobacillus was considered the fifth most important living organisms in the world, there were long-standing taxonomic issues with the genus. This was a result of inability to properly characterize the genus using the available technologies as at then. Infact, before the discovery of DNA, classification into genus was based on morphological and biochemical properties. After DNA was discovered, it became very obvious that there were issues with the classification of bacteria, including Lactobacillus. Since then, Scientists have been working towards a better reclassification as technological advancement in genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics,interactomicsetc has provided more valuable information.

Recently, 15 scientists from around the world (from 12 different institutions and 7 different countries) worked together and applied whole genome analysis to characterize each Lactobacillus species. They suggested that the Lactobacillus species that were previously within the Lactobacillus genus should be reclassified into 25 genera, including 23 novel genera. Unlike previous classification that grouped bacteria based on morphological and biochemical properties, the Scientists suggested that bacteria with similar functions or physiology should be grouped together. They based their new findings on the results of genomic and proteomic analyses. The 23 novel genera suggested by the Scientists include Acetilactobacillus, Amylolactobacillus, Bombilactobacillus, Companilactobacillus, Dellaglioa, Fructilactobacillus, Furfurilactobacillus, Holzapfelia, Lacticaseibacillus, Lactiplantibacillus, Lapidilactobacillus, Latilactobacillus, Lentilactobacillus, Apilactobacillus, Levilactobacillus, Ligilactobacillus, Limosilactobacillus, Liquorilactobacillus, Agrilactobacillus, Loigolactobacilus, Paucilactobacillus, Schleiferilactobacillus, and Secundilactobacillus. Furthermore, the proposed taxonomic change affected some important Lactobacillus probiotic species. These include Lactobacillus casei changed to Lacticaseibacilluscasei; Lactobacillus paracaseito Lacticaseibacillusparacasei; Lactobacillus plantarum to Lactiplantibacillusplantarum; Lactobacillus brevis to Levilactobacillusbrevis; Lactobacillus salivarius to Ligilactobacillussalivarius; Lactobacillus fermentum to Limosilactobacillusfermentum; Lactobacillus reuteri to Limosilactobacillusreuteri; and Lactobacillus rhamnosus to Lacticaseibacillusrhamnosus. Those that were not changed include Lactobacillus acidophilus (unchanged); Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus (unchanged); Lactobacillus crispatus(unchanged); Lactobacillus gasseri(unchanged); Lactobacillus johnsonii(unchanged) and Lactobacillus helveticus (unchanged).