Noelia López-Giral

Probiotic strains with health-promoting activities have emerged as a promising strategy to prevent or treat different metabolic syndrome-related disturbances, including obesity or type 2 diabetes. In this work, we characterize the probiotic properties of a novel strain of Latilactobacillus sakei (L. sakei) CNTA 173, and we demonstrate its anti-obesity properties using the in vivo model Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). This new strain exhibited sensitivity to the entire spectrum of antibiotics analysed, gastric and intestinal in vitro resistance, β-galactosidase activity, and the ability to form biofilm and to produce acetic acid in vitro. Cell culture analyses demonstrated that L. sakei CNTA 173 was able to reduce the adhesion to Caco-2 cells of the pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 and to exert immunomodulatory capacity in RAW 264.7 and HT-29 in vitro models. Furthermore, supplementation with L. sakei CNTA 173 counteracted the deleterious effects of glucose in C. elegans by significantly reducing fat accumulation, enhancing the oxidative stress response, and extending lifespan by directly regulating the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism-related genes acox-1, maoc-1, and daf-16. Our results unveil new strain-specific mechanisms of action by which L. sakei CNTA 173 exerts beneficial effects in vitro and in C. elegans, and suggest potential application of this novel probiotic strain in the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome-related disturbances.