Genetic diversity of lactic acid bacteria strains towards their potential probiotic application

Lactic acid bacteria found as sub-dominant component of the human and animal microbial gut represents one of the most significant groups of probiotic organisms. During the last decade probiotics become an important and viable ingredient in the functional foods as well as the pharmaceutical industry. In this paper, we shall review the most important findings with regards to the in vitro screening of specie-specific probiotic strains, the molecular mechanism of probiotic action, and applications in functional food. Moreover, we shall punctuate alternative sources for the isolation of novel probiotic strains to potentially satisfy the market need in the development of new functional products containing probiotic cultures more active and with better probiotic characteristics than those already existed.