Weissella cibaria strains isolated from Indian fermented foods

The importance of the gut microbiota in human health has led to an increased interest to study probiotic bacteria. Fermented food is a source of already established probiotics, but it also offers an opportunity to discover new taxa. Four strains of Weissella cibaria isolated from Indian fermented food have been genome sequenced. The genome of W. cibaria strain 92, known to utilise xylooligosaccharides and produce lactate and acetate, have been used to analyse oligosaccharide utilisation. Clusters including genes involved in transportation, hydrolysis and metabolism of xylooligosaccharides, arabinooligosaccharides and beta-glucosides were identified. The ability of W. cibaria strain 92 to utilise several types of oligosaccharides derived from dietary fibres, and produce lactate and acetate makes it interesting as a probiotic candidate for further evaluation.