Evidence mapPaperPMID 39754036Full record

ArticleBMC genomics2025

The curated Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM genome provides insights into strain specificity and microevolution.

Meichen Pan, Sarah O'Flaherty, Ashley Hibberd, Svetlana Gerdes, Wesley Morovic, Rodolphe Barrangou

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Article in BMC genomics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

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4citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Meichen Pan *Department of Food, Bioprocessing, & Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Sarah O'Flaherty *Department of Food, Bioprocessing, & Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Ashley HibberdHealth and Biosciences, IFF, Madison, WI, USA.
Svetlana GerdesHealth and Biosciences, IFF, Madison, WI, USA.
Wesley MorovicHealth and Biosciences, IFF, Madison, WI, USA.
Rodolphe BarrangouDepartment of Food, Bioprocessing, & Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA. rbarran@ncsu.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe advent of next generation sequencing technologies has enabled a surge in the number of whole genome sequences in public databases, and our understanding of the composition and evolution of bacterial genomes. Besides model organisms and pathogens, some attention has been dedicated to industrial bacteria, notably members of the Lactobacillaceae family that are commonly studied and formulated as probiotic bacteria. Of particular interest is Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM, an extensively studied strain that has been widely commercialized for decades and is being used for the delivery of vaccines and therapeutics.

resultsHere, we revisit the L. acidophilus genome, which was sequenced twenty years ago, and determined the core and pan genomes of 114 publicly available L. acidophilus strains, spanning commercial isolates, academic strains and clones from the scientific literature. Results indicate a predictable high level of homogeneity within the species, but also reveal surprising mis-assemblies. Furthermore, by investigating twenty one available L. acidophilus NCFM-derived variants, we document overall genomic stability, with no observed genomic re-arrangement or inversions.

conclusionThis study provides a comparative analysis of the currently available genomes for L. acidophilus and examines microevolution patterns for several strains derived from L. acidophilus NCFM, which revealed no to very few SNPs with strains sequenced at different points in time using different sequencing technologies and platforms. This re-affirms its suitability for industrial deployment as a probiotic and its use as an engineering chassis and delivery modality for novel biotherapeutics.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularGenome, BacterialLactobacillus acidophilusGenomic InstabilityGenomicsPhylogenyPolymorphism, Single NucleotideSpecies SpecificityComparative genomicsGenomeLactobacillus acidophilus NCFMPan genomeProbioticSingle nucleotide polymorphismStrain variation

Identifiers

PMID39754036
PMCPMC11697832

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.