Recent Advances on Transcriptional Regulation for Nutraceutical Biofortification of Fermented Food using Probiotic Bacteria

*Department of Biotechnology, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Sector-62, Noida

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Abstract

The widespread acceptance of nutritionally fortified foods containing nutraceuticals has emerged as a safe, suitable alternative for alleviating various diseases. Nutraceuticals, or compounds showing nutritional and therapeutic properties, are often the constituents of plant-based foods or an outcome of their fermentation. Food fermentation is primarily an outcome of biofortification of food ingredients using natural microflora or probiotic bacteria. Existing studies have reported that fermentation fortifies food ingredients with amino acids, vitamins, minerals, proteolytic enzymes, and other nutraceuticals, thereby improving the acceptability of fermented foods and often affecting shelf life. The growing understanding of different gut-associated axes necessitates a detailed understanding of the molecular regulation of probiotic bacteria during fermentation, vis-a-vis their impact on the food's modulated composition, enables the selection of catalogues of probiotic bacteria or their consortia for the development of fermented foods. Among probiotics, the genus Lactobacillus has gained particular attention for its ability to produce a diverse range of metabolites under different abiotic conditions, viz., short-chain fatty acids, exopolysaccharides, vitamins, bioactive peptides, and carbohydrate-derived compounds. This review examines the molecular mechanism of probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus sp., and understanding the molecular mechanism underlying food biofortification, a strategy that may be used in the future to develop designer or personalized food.