Isolation of Health-benefiting Bacteria from Probiotic Foods

Abstract

Probiotic Foods are known to have many health benefits such as bolstering intestinal health, reducing risk to many diseases, and reducing antibiotic resistance, to name a few. Because these foods have so many benefits, I hypothesized that by isolating bacteria from them, these health benefits could be extended to all kinds of different foods. The bacteria of interest were isolated from Great Value Greek Plain Nonfat Yogurt by using MRS medium to encourage the growth of lactic acid bacteria. After several strains had been isolated, they were used to ferment orange juice and carrot juice for about three days. By using HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography), several differences between the original juices and the fermented juices were found. E. Coli Bacteria were tested against antibiotics as well as salt concentrations after being exposed to one of two treatments: fermented juice and non-fermented juice. Through this experiment, I have been able to observe positive results from three bacterial strains. I was able to observe a decrease in antibiotic resistance to ampicillin, hygromycin, carbenicillin, and kanamycin when I exposed E. Coli bacteria to juices fermented by my isolated bacteria.