Abstract

Bifidobacterium species are known for their beneficial effects on health and their wide use as probiotics. Molecular methods applied to accurately and rapidly identify these micro-organisms are necessary. This study was conducted in order to isolate Bifidobacterium from newborn babies’ microbiota and also to identify the new isolated strains by PCR and ARDRA. The bile and the low pH tolerance for the new isolates were evaluated as evidence of possible probiotic potencial. A total of 30 strains were isolated from four newborn babies and three of them (I6, I17 and I20) were identified asBifidobacterium after PCR using two genus-specific primer pairs. Digestion patterns of I17 and I20 by ARDRA were similar to B. longum and B. breve and were different to B. bifidum patterns. The 30 isolated strains were bile and low pH tolerant. Therefore, this study identified three Bifidobacteriumisolated strains as good candidates for further investigation to elucidate their potential as probiotic.

Key words: Bifidobacterium, ARDRA, PCR, newborn babies, restriction digestion.