The discovery and study of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii (Sb) is strictly related to the concept of health promoting microorganisms from food. The first most well-known and popularized throughout Europe assumption of health promoting food containing living microorganisms was yogurt. Appointed in 1888 by Louis Pasteur, Ilya Ilyich Metchnikov working in Paris developed...

In recent years, there has been a strong focus on beneficial foods with probiotic microorganisms and functional organic substances. In this context, there is an increasing interest in the commercial use of kefir, since it can be marketed as a natural beverage that has health promoting bacteria. There are numerous commercially available kefir based-products. Kefir may act as a matrix in the effe...

The persistence of mutualisms in host-microbial - or holobiont - systems is difficult to explain because microbial mutualists, who bear the costs of providing benefits to their host, are always prone to being competitively displaced by non-mutualist 'cheater' species. This disruptive effect of competition is expected to be particularly strong when the benefits provided by the mutualists entail ...

Surfaces of higher eukaryotes are normally covered with microorganisms but are usually not infected by them. Innate immunity and the expression of gene-encoded antimicrobial peptides play important roles in the first line of defence in higher animals. The immune response in Drosophila promotes systemic expression of antimicrobial peptides in response to microbial infection. We now demonstrate t...

Vascular plants are commonly colonized by endophytic actinobacteria. However, very little is known about the relationship between these microorganisms and cacao fruits. In order to determine the physiological and taxonomic relationships between the members of this community, actinobacteria were isolated from cacao fruits and seeds. Among the 49 isolates recovered, 11 morphologically distinct is...

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have originally been defined as root-colonizing bacteria that cause either plant growth promotion or biological control of plant diseases. The mechanisms by which PGPR promote plant growth are not fully understood, but it is believed that the plant growth promoting rhizobacteria enhance plant growth and yield either by direct or indirect mechanisms. T...

Schizolobium parahyba var. amazonicum (Huber ex Ducke) occurs naturally in the Brazilian Amazon. Currently, it is being planted extensively because of its fast growth and excellent use in forestry. Consequently, there is great interest in new strategies to increase wood production. The interaction between soil microorganisms and plants, specifically in the roots, provides essential nutrients fo...

Six fungal isolates were selected from the rhizosphere of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) plants and were tested in vitro for their plant growth promoting (PGP) abilities in the soil. The species of Aspergillus selected were tested for the siderophore production, indole acetic acid (IAA) production, catalase enzyme activity and biological control of pathogens through antagonism. The results indi...

Interactions between plants and microorganisms in the rhizosphere (rhizobacteria) can clearly affect crop yields. Rhizobacteria that benefit plant growth and development are called PGPR. the most studied PGPR belong to gramnegative genera, and the greatest number of strains are members of the fluorescent pseudomonads in our present investigation was to study the plant growth promoting (PGP) act...