Effects of Probiotics on Health, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

There are two convergent origins of the living organisms described now as probiotics. Historically, these were microorganisms safely consumed through fermented foods. Many of these bacteria were known as lactic acid producers and were able to inhibit the growth of other, mostly pathogenic, microorganisms. They were later considered as probiotics, which, according to their definition, act through diverse mechanisms to confer a health benefit to the host. However, the modern approach to probiotics has come from studies on microbiomes of the higher organisms and on the important role the microbiome plays in the integrity and functions of the host. The microbiome contributes to early life imprinting, particularly through its effects on the developing immune system. The members of the microbiome, soon after successful gut colonization, come into direct crosstalk with the epithelial cells of the body’ surfaces, inducing transcriptional changes in the epithelium that cause alterations in the expression of multiple genes. The microbiome plays an important role in the regulation of the immune response in the innate and mucosal immune systems and contributes to colonization resistance in different niches of the host. All these properties have led to the idea that the microbiome is distorted in many conditions and diseases, and can be restored by administering beneficial microorganisms isolated from a healthy microbiome. These were originally represented by the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium genera. The availability of whole-genome sequencing and the era of genomics have enabled the mechanisms of probiotic efficacy to be elucidated and have facilitated the discovery and characterization of new strains of microorganisms with probiotic properties among those residing in the microbiome. This novel and inquisitive look at these bacteria has resulted in an enormous wave of research and extensive developments in the prospective field of probiotics. It appears that probiotics will soon be useful not only in correcting distorted microbiota, but also in facilitating and directing the development of the microbiota in human and animal newborns. Because microorganisms of the healthy microbiome with probiotic properties have been increasingly described and characterized in recent years, the original list, which originally comprised several probiotic strains belonging to a few species, has been lengthened to hundreds and is growing prospectively. The mechanisms by which probiotic microorganisms positively interact with host organisms has appeared to be not exclusively linked to viable cells and has generated a new field of postbiotics, i.e., non-viable bacterial cells, their components and metabolites, which present the majority of probiotic properties. Since postbiotics share many health-promoting activities with probiotics but possess a more extensive applicative potential, it is expected that they will stimulate a wide range of research on their characteristics and mechanisms of action in various hosts.

This Special Issue aims to gather original publications and reviews on probiotics and postbiotics from all fields of research based on in vitro and in vivo studies.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following fields: medicine, veterinary medicine, food (human and animal), vertebrate and non-vertebrate biology; the effects of the environment on their taxonomy, genetics, metabolism, functionality; and the effects exerted on host organisms: position in microbiome and microbiota, interactions with other microorganisms and the crosstalk with host cells, including immune-competent cells, and the effects on innate immunity mechanisms.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Piotr B. Heczko
Guest Editor

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• probiotics
• postbiotics
• taxonomy
• genomics
• proteomics
• metabolomics
• microbiome
• immunity
• tissue
• animals

• Effects of Probiotics on Health in Microorganisms (17 articles)