Identification and Probiotic characterization of microbial communities from Fermented rice water and association of Enterococcus hirae with peptic ulcer causing Helicobacter pylori

K. Chidhambara Priya Dharshini, Divya S Raj, S. Umamaheswari*

Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT

Fermented rice water is a classic example of fermented food known for nutritional values. The microbiome of fermented rice water is not yet completely revealed. Helicobacter pylori, the causative organism of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer is considered as a WHO priority-2 due to the nature of resisting antibiotics necessitating the research to rule out regiments to avoid H. pylori infections. Probiotics are considered as an emerging alternative to eradicate and manage this pathogen, making it more prominent to have the means to evaluate their effectiveness against this pathogen. The present work is focused on revealing the microbial communities of fermented rice water and to characterize the isolates for their probiotic efficiency along with its antagonistic activity against H. pylori. Three natural inhabitants of fermented rice water were isolated and characterized morphologically and biochemically and were identified using 16s rRNA sequencing. The isolates were further tested for their probiotic efficiency and their antagonistic activity against H. pylori isolated from the gastric endoscopic ulcer samples. The present study highlights Enterococcus hirae as a probiotic strain with potent anti-H. pylori activity.

Keywords:

Antibiotics, Fermented rice water, H. pylori, Probiotics, Enterococcus hirae