Novel fatty acid metabolism in lactic acid bacteria and the physiological function of metabolites

Abstract

The metabolism of the food occurs not only in human intestines but also in intestinal bacteria living in host intestines.

Therefore, it is important to understand the food metabolism by intestinal bacteria and its physiological effects on human health. In this article, we introduce recent knowledge about the lipid metabolism by intestinal bacteria, focusing on the unsaturated fatty acid metabolism.

We revealed novel unsaturated fatty acid metabolisms in lactic acid bacteria, which is one of the representative intestinal bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria can convert linoleic acid included in edible oils into hydroxy, oxo, conjugated, and partially saturated fatty acids as intermediates. Some intermediates have physiological effects, such as stimulation of adipogenesis, enhancement of energy metabolism, suppression of macrophage-mediated inflammation, reduction of triacylglycerol levels, cytoprotection against oxidative stress, and amelioration of intestinal epithelial barrier impairment. These results show the possibility that these intermediates formed specifically by intestinal bacteria have some influence on the human health.

Furthermore, by utilizing the unique function of lactic acid bacteria metabolism to produce various functional fatty acid, additional functional fatty acid development is expected in the future.