Genomic Insights Into the Probiotic and Safety Attributes of Pediococcus acidilactici BC-7 for its Potential Application in Livestock Health.
Pediococcus acidilactici is widely recognized for its health-beneficial aspects and has gained increasing interest for use in livestock industry. It shows strong probiotic efficacy, antimicrobial activity, cholesterol-lowering potential, immune modulation, and other therapeutic attributes. The novel strain from indigenous habitats mainly depicted potent probiotic efficacy and high adaptability. In this study, we evaluated the probiotic characteristics and genomic features of strain BC-7 obtained from a Nili - Ravi buffalo calf raised under domestic conditions using phenotypic assessment, genomic analysis and in vivo studies. The strain BC-7 exhibited key probiotic traits i.e., gut tolerance (70.43% - 97.5%), auto-aggregation (85.24%), co-aggregation (14.33% - 25.88%), hydrophobicity (78.33% - 88%), antioxidant potential (54%), and antibacterial activity (16.47-18 mm). The safety analysis revealed that BC-7 exhibited susceptibility and resistance to various antimicrobial agents and showed no β hemolytic activity. BC-7 was taxonomically classified as Pediococcus acidilactici by 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. Whole genome sequence (WGS) analysis showed that P. acidilactici BC-7 contains a 1.9 Mb genome with 42% GC content. Pediococccus acidilactici BC-7 harbored 1900 genes, which were mainly associated with metabolism and genetic processes. Based on genomic comparison, BC-7 shared 99% average nucleotide identity and strong genomic collinearity with P. acidilactici NARCC1 which is a TYPE strain having potent probiotic potential. Probiotic strain BC-7 shared 1,664 core genes with reference strains and 69 unique genes specific for metabolism and genetic processes. The BC-7 strain contained unique bacteriocins-associated genes and defense-related CAzymes, it harbors only vancomycin resistance genes and lacked true virulence determinants. In vivo trial showed that BC-7 treated mice showed increased growth rate, improved immune modulation, and membrane integrity. These significant findings revealed that BC-7 emerging as a potential probiotic strain with strong functionality and efficacy. Thus, our strain BC-7 could be used as a promising candidate for applications in the animal health industry.