Considering the implications of microbiota in health, scientists are in search of microbiota-oriented strategies for the effective prevention and/or treatment of a wide variety of serious diseases. A microbiota comprises diverse microorganisms with either probiotic or pathogenic properties. The fermentation of prebiotic carbohydrates by probiotic bacteria can affect host metabolism. Therefore, understanding the prebiotic-mediated metabolic modulations in probiotics is crucial to develop functional foods for the improvement of disturbed microbiota. Studies have emphasized the importance of prebiotics in probiotic therapies for mucosal diseases and highlighted the need for extensive research on oral bacteria. In the present study, the cellular events have been studied in batch cultures of probiotic Streptococcus salivarius exposed to the natural prebiotic, tapioca starch (TS). TS modulated the keystone metabolic events in Streptococcus salivarius in a dose-dependent manner. Besides increasing the live cell counts and altering the colony morphologies, TS affected the protein metabolism in terms of cellular expression and conformational changes in protein secondary structures. After treatment with TS, the nucleic acid synthesis increased and B-DNA was more than A- and Z-DNA, together with the diminished fatty acids and increased polysaccharide synthesis. The study results can be considered for the assessment of functional foods and probiotics in oral health.

考虑到微生物群对健康的影响，科学家们正在寻找针对微生物群的策略，以有效预防和/或治疗多种严重疾病。微生物群包括具有益生菌或致病特性的多种微生物。益生菌对益生元碳水化合物的发酵会影响宿主的新陈代谢。因此，了解益生菌中益生元介导的代谢调节对于开发功能食品以改善受干扰的微生物群至关重要。研究强调益生元在粘膜疾病益生菌治疗中的重要性，并强调需要对口腔细菌进行广泛的研究。在本研究中，已经在益生菌唾液链球菌的分批培养中研究了细胞事件暴露于天然益生元木薯淀粉（TS）。TS以剂量依赖的方式调节唾液链球菌的关键代谢事件。除了增加活细胞计数和改变菌落形态外，TS还通过细胞表达和蛋白质二级结构的构象变化影响蛋白质代谢。用TS处理后，核酸合成增加，B-DNA超过A-和Z-DNA，同时脂肪酸减少，多糖合成增加。研究结果可用于评估口腔健康中的功能性食品和益生菌。