Open AccessThe life history of Lactobacillus acidophilus as a probiotic: a tale of revisionary taxonomy, misidentification and commercial success
Author(s) -
Bull Matthew,
Plummer Sue,
Marchesi Julian,
Mahenthiralingam Eshwar
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/1574-6968.12293
Subject(s) - lactobacillus acidophilus , biology , probiotic , taxonomy (biology) , lactobacillus , microbiology and biotechnology , zoology , bacteria , genetics
Abstract Lactobacillus acidophilus is a commercially significant bacterial probiotic, originally isolated from the human gastrointestinal tract and designated B acillus acidophilus in 1900. Throughout the development of methods to identify and characterise bacteria, L . acidophilus has undergone multiple taxonomic revisions and is now the type species of a phylogenetic subgroup in the highly diverse and heterogeneous L actobacillus genus. As a result of the limitations of differentiating phenotypically similar species by morphological and biochemical means and revisionary nature of L actobacillus taxonomy, the characterisation of L . acidophilus has struggled with misidentification and misrepresentation. In contrast, due to its global use as a probiotic supplement in functional foods, L . acidophilus sensu stricto is now one of the most well‐characterised L actobacillus species. Here, we establish the provenance of L . acidophilus strains, unpicking historical and current misidentifications of L . acidophilus , and reviewing the probiotic, genomic and physiological characteristics of this important L actobacillus species.