Leuconostoc mesenteroides Producing Bifidogenic Growth Stimulator via Whey Fermentation

Two whey culture supernatants of CJNU 0147 and CJNU 0400 were found to effectively enhance the growth of Bifidobacterium longum F110564 by 1.58 fold compared to non-fermented whey medium. The 2 isolates were identified to be Leuconostoc mesenteroides (99% identity) by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. To determine whether the whey culture supernatant of CJNU 0147 selectively stimulate the growth of bifidobacteria, the growth rates of Escherichia coli DH5 alpha, Enterococcus faecalis KFRI 675, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19111, and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 14458 with the supernatant were measured. In these experiments, the supernatant slightly inhibited the growths of bacteria except for E coli, indicating that the whey culture supernatant had very little influence on the growth of these bacterial strains.