Auto and co-aggregation, hydrophobicity and adhesion properties of Lactobacillus plantarum strains isolated from Siahmazgi traditional cheese

Lactobacillus plantarum was the most common species in the microflora of artisanal Siahmazgi white brined cheese with 41.6% occurrence among the total isolated LAB. In this study, the attachment properties of 5 different L. plantarum strains isolated from Siahmazgi traditional cheese were evaluated by in vitro tests including auto and co-aggregation, hydrophobicity, and cell adhesion. A relatively high amount of auto-aggregation ranged from 58.21 to 73.99% was seen in selected isolates. Co-aggregation was highly variable from 1.46 to 49%, depending on the pathogenic bacteria and L. plantarum isolates. Hydrophobicity was also highly different in tested strains ranging from 6.58 to 73.3%. Two isolates showed great affinity about 73% to chloroform.  All the isolates presented high adhesion to Caco-2 cell line up to about 90%. In conclusion, five L. plantarum isolates showed appropriate attachment properties and could be good candidates for further studying, including safety evaluation, that support their use as probiotics.