Bifidobacterium adolescentis strain:IVS-1 Genome sequencing and assembly. Bifidobacterium adolescentis strain:IVS-1

One strategy for enhancing establishment of probiotic bacteria in the human intestinal tract is the parallel administration of a prebiotic, which is referred to as a synbiotic. With this project we present a novel method for the selection of probiotic strains to be used in synbiotic applications, In Vivo Selection (IVS). Candidate strains are isolated from fecal samples after being enriched with the respective prebiotic. To test the potential of IVS, we isolated bifidobacteria by selective culture from human subjects after galactooligosaccharides (GOS) consumption . A retrospective analysis of the fecal microbiota of one of the subjects revealed that one strain, Bifidobacterium adolescentis IVS-1, was enriched 8-fold. The functionality of IVS-1 and GOS as a synergistic synbiotic was then tested in rats that received either the bacterial strain alone, the prebiotic alone, the synbiotic combination, or no supplement.