Abstract

A varied climate in Iran makes the production of a wide range of dairy products possible. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify new potential probiotic lactobacilli from traditional Iran dairy products. The isolates were screened for their probiotic potential activities, including acid and bile resistance, antagonistic activity and cholesterol removal. Screening of acid and bile tolerant strains from 14 different samples led to the identification of 20 isolates of Lactobacillus spp. Most promising strains which assimilated more than 75% of the cholesterol in the medium and/or exhibited high inhibition value against pathogen identified based on 16S rDNA sequence. Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillusbrevis, Lactobacillus casei isolated from yogurt and cheese exhibited both high cholesterol assimilation and antagonist activity. These results suggested that, Iranian indigenous lactobacilli have potential as probiotics, and they might also be good candidates to be used as probiotic carrier or functional foods.

Key words: Traditional dairy, probiotic, cholesterol assimilation, antagonist activity.