2020 Volume 69 Issue 2 Pages 71-82
Although Lactobacillus reuteri (Lb. reuteri) is a kind of probiotic lactic acid bacterium (LAB) that is well suited for industrial applications, the fundamental characteristics of this species are relatively unknown. This review therefore examined the probiotic characteristics, carbohydrate metabolism, and current and possible future applications of Lb. reuteri.
In carbohydrate utilization, sugars are taken up via various cell membrane transporters into cells, and hexose and pentose are metabolized by the phosphoketolase or the pentose phosphate pathways. Several strains of Lb. reuteri are capable of synthesizing extracellular polysaccharides and oligosaccharides. One such polymer is “reuteran”, which contains predominantly alternating (α1→4) and (α1→6) linkages. The production of fructosyl polymers with (β2→6) and (β2→1) linkages has also been produced. Reuteran and fructosyl polymers are extracellularly synthesized by glucansucrases or fructosucrases, respectively. Although the industrial applications of these polymers and enzymes are currently limited, their use is likely to increase in fields such as the dairy industry in the future.
