Seleção e microencapsulação de bactérias ácido-láticas potencialmente probióticas obtidas de frutos do bacupari (Rheedia gardneriana)

Abstract

The fruits available in the Amazon region, including the bacupari, are still little explored and may present a variable possibility of bioprospecting not only new substances, but also new microorganisms that may have probiotic potential. With regard to the native microbial ecology of bacupari, there are few studies so far, and this information can be an important tool for the development of new biotechnological processes applied to food. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the most commonly found during the spontaneous fermentation process of fruits. Thus, the objective of this work was to explore strains of lactic acid bacteria isolated from the spontaneous fermentation of the Amazonian fruit bacupari (Rheedia gardneriana), as well as to carry out the selection, molecular identification and microencapsulation of microorganisms with probiotic potential. A total of 97 lactic acid bacteria were isolated and of these, 75 were subjected to resistance test at a temperature of 37°C (64% (n=48) of the isolated bacteria resisted); antagonism against pathogenic bacteria (31% (n=15) showed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli bacteria); tolerance to different pH values (100% (n=4) resisted to pH 5, 3 and 2 for up to 3 hours); bile salt resistance (100% (n=4) resisted a 0.3% bile salt concentration for up to 6 hours); antibiotic susceptibility (50% (n=2) were multiresistant to the antibiotics tested - ampicillin, vancomycin, gentamicin, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, clindamycin, and kanamycin) and virulence tests (50% (n=1) did not show virulence in any of the tests performed - gelatinase, lipase production, DNAse and hemolytic activity). Therefore, 1 strain (20) showed probiotic potential and was molecularly identified as Weissella jogaejeotgali, being microencapsulated by the spray drying technique. It is noteworthy that this microorganism (20) deserves to be highlighted in the research, as this was the one that presented positive aspects in all the items evaluated in this study.