Megala G, Kavitha M
School of BioSciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India.
Arch Microbiol. 2025 Apr 18;207(6):124. doi: 10.1007/s00203-025-04327-x.
Folate, an essential water soluble vitamin B9 that cannot be synthesized naturally by the bodily function. Dietary sources or probiotic-folates are the two biological modes for acquiring the target vitamin which aids DNA synthesis and repair. Probiotics are known for their divergent health benefits and have garnered significant interest. Particularly in microbial strains that produce folate offers a promising way to enhance the level of folate. Notably, folate-producing probiotic strain includes Lactiplantibacillus, Lactococcus, Bifidobacterium, and Streptococcus. As an emerging source of health benefits, folate producing probiotics helps in improving the gut microbiota for overall well-being of human body. On the other side, chemically synthesized folic acid were not highly advantageous as they lacks absorption, conversion and excretion. Hence, usage of microbial-folate are safer as it can easily undergo absorption and reduces severe side effects. The present review mainly focus on folate one-carbon metabolism, its significance in human health, folate deficiency and malabsorption, adverse effects and folate synthesis from probiotic bacterial strains, and also toxicological impacts. In particular, the beneficiary role of these probiotic strains were found to be associated with therapeutic applications in several diseases such as autoimmune disorder, metabolic disorders, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), wound healing, drug delivery and cancer.
叶酸是一种必需的水溶性维生素B9，人体无法通过自身功能自然合成。饮食来源或益生菌叶酸是获取这种有助于DNA合成和修复的目标维生素的两种生物学途径。益生菌因其多种健康益处而闻名，并引起了广泛关注。特别是能够产生叶酸的微生物菌株为提高叶酸水平提供了一种有前景的方法。值得注意的是，产生叶酸的益生菌菌株包括植物乳杆菌、乳球菌、双歧杆菌和链球菌。作为一种新兴的健康益处来源，产生叶酸的益生菌有助于改善肠道微生物群，促进人体整体健康。另一方面，化学合成的叶酸并不具有很大优势，因为它们缺乏吸收、转化和排泄功能。因此，微生物叶酸的使用更安全，因为它易于吸收并能减少严重的副作用。本综述主要关注叶酸的一碳代谢、其在人类健康中的意义、叶酸缺乏和吸收不良、不良反应以及益生菌菌株合成叶酸的情况，还有毒理学影响。特别是，这些益生菌菌株的有益作用被发现与自身免疫性疾病、代谢紊乱和心血管疾病等多种疾病的治疗应用、伤口愈合、药物递送以及癌症有关。
