Characterization and In Vitro Probiotic Assessment of as New Potent Probiotic Candidate.

spp. probiotics have been shown to be promising due to their resilience in the gut. This study evaluated the in vitro probiotic potential of PTCC 1596, using ATCC 700160 as a control. In vitro probiotic characteristic assays were conducted to compare and (control) in terms of acid and bile tolerance, enzymatic activity, antimicrobial potential, antibiotic susceptibility, biofilm formation, hydrophobicity, autoaggregation, enterotoxin gene presence, and cytotoxicity. spores demonstrated high survival (95.6% ± 0.9%) at pH 2.5 for 3 h and tolerance to 0.5% oxgall bile salts. The strain produced catalase, protease, and nattokinase, and exhibited moderate cell surface hydrophobicity (47.1% ± 3.12% to xylene) and autoaggregation (7.0% ± 1.2% after 1 h). It showed sensitivity to several antibiotics (e.g., chloramphenicol, gentamicin) and lacked detectable plasmids and tested enterotoxin genes (//, /, , and ). Cytotoxicity assays using HepG-2 cells indicated non-toxicity, with supernatants potentially enhancing cell viability. While exhibiting lower biofilm formation than , displayed promising traits. These findings suggest PTCC 1596 is a potential probiotic candidate warranting further investigation, particularly given its alkaliphilic nature.