Stress Response Effectors and Strategies in Probiotics

Probiotics are gaining increasing attention thanks to the health-promoting activities associated to their dietary intake, and to their occurrence and persistence in the gut microbiota. According to the specific type of stress, probiotic cells have been found to respond by

• i) up- regulating chaperones that stabilize, refold, and/or prevent precipitation of denaturing proteins;
• ii) producing proteolytic enzymes to degrade irreversibly damaged structures;
• iii) activating diverse detoxifying systems;
• iv) modulating cell membrane lipid composition and surface adhesion properties.

Insight into the molecular mechanisms carried out by probiotics to cope with stress shall increase our overall knowledge of the cellular strategies to overcome stress, thereby providing a paradigm for general cell stress response.

Moreover, from a more applicative point of view, such studies may help to rationalize the use of beneficial microbes and to improve their efficacy.