Collaboration STLO-Naro
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Collaboration STLO-Naro

A new research collaboration with Japan

A collaborative research project has been initiated between STLO and NARO: National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Japan's equivalent of INRAE. It will characterize the capacity of foodstuffs to protect bacteria of interest when they undergo acid, enzymatic or other stress induced by digestion. The foods targeted are milk- or plant-based.

The DIDGI-LAB project (Deciphering dynamics of Lactic acid bacteria in the digestive tract using dynamic digestion simulators) has been approved and funded under the Joint Linkage Call 2024 between INRAE and NARO.

STLO researchers meet NARO researchers in Japan
A visit (in slippers!) to NARO's analytical capabilities in Tsukuba. From left to right, top: F. Valence, G. Jan, Y. Le Loir, D. Dupont, Tatsuro Hagi. Bottom: NARO NMR engineer, Sora Hayashida. © STLO

The aim of the project is to compare the ability of dairy and plant (soybean) matrices to protect dietary and probiotic bacteria from stresses induced by the early stages of digestion.  The NARO team has a large collection of lactic acid bacteria tested for their ability to ferment milk and soy juice. It will select a consortium of lactic acid bacteria capable of generating a lactic gel with equivalent characteristics (texture, dry extract, pH, etc.) on both matrices. This consortium will also include a probiotic P. freudenreichii strain. The survival and physiological status of the bacteria used and carried by these matrices will be analyzed after passage through STLO's DIDGI digester.

Four STLO scientists (D. Dupont, G. Jan, Y. Le Loir and F. Valence) visited their counterparts at NARO's Food Research Institute (FRI) in Tsukuba during a mission from October 31 to November 6, 2024. On this occasion, they visited NARO's facilities, notably their analytical capabilities dedicated to metabolomics (NMR, MRI, mass spectrometry) and experimental capabilities dedicated to digestion (gastric simulator). The visit also provided an opportunity to present work from Rennes and take part in a symposium. The scientific stay ended with a visit to a sake brewery (Hakkaisan in Usara).

In return, two Japanese researchers from NARO (T. Hagi and S. Hayashida) came to STLO on November 21 and 22. The program included a tour of our facilities, a seminar given by T. Hagi, a visit to a cheese factory (Curé Nantais, Pornic) and a tour of Lactalis' pilot laboratories and halls in Retiers.

These visits were also the occasion for working meetings to plan the experiments and share the workload between the two teams.

These experiments are scheduled for 2025.

Modification date: 26 November 2024 | Publication date: 26 November 2024 | By: Y. Le Loir & F. Gyomarc'h - STLO