The health benefits imparted by probiotics and prebiotics as well as synbiotics have been the subject of extensive research in the past few decades. These food supplements termed as functional foods have been demonstrated to alter, modify and reinstate the pre-existing intestinal flora. They also facilitate smooth functions of the intestinal environment. Most commonly used probiotic strains are: Bifidobacterium, Lactobacilli, S. boulardii, B. coagulans. Prebiotics like FOS, GOS, XOS, Inulin; fructans are the most commonly used fibers which when used together with probiotics are termed synbiotics and are able to improve the viability of the probiotics. Present review focuses on composition and roles of Probiotics, Prebiotics and Synbiotics in human health. Furthermore, additional health benefits like immune-modulation, cancer prevention, inflammatory bowel disease etc. are also discussed.

The review is aimed at presenting the advances in the field of probiotics based on information gleaned from the patents filed internationally in last 15 years. The review explains the concept of probiotics and discusses the established microbes like lactobacilli and bifidobacteria and some emerging new candidates. The global market trend for probiotics is presented with related aspect of business, how patents can be leveraged as business tool to create monopoly and secure future business. Patents related to GIT are discussed at length. The scope has expanded considerably now and patents related to important findings as judged from claims from such patents are explained in depth. Further, more patents that are studied pertain to novel applications related to fat metabolism, obesity, weight management, oral health, anticancer treatments, cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, etc. Few other patents foraying in to the area of immunomodulation, allergies and antioxidant activity are taken into consideration. Other patents are also included that address the challenges related to dreadful viral diseases including AIDS and rare but serious inborn errors of metabolism. The review also enlists salient features of patents dealing with therapeutic effects with existing gut probiotics but with increased viability, use of unconventional bacterial probiotic strains capable of surviving in hostile gut conditions, innovative compositions to increase acceptability and novel methods to deliver the same. New research pertaining to probiotics having role in cosmetics & skin care and veterinary applications is also taken into account. The review is concluded by throwing some light on the trend in the ongoing research as well as some speculation on the future trend. It can be envisaged that the rapid advances in the field certainly hold a huge promise to mankind as it has tremendous scope to deliver a plethora of health advantages.

Besides the well-known heat-stable extracellular staphylococcal nuclease (EC 3.1.4.7) and cell surface bound nuclease, one more nuclease, which is heat-labile, has been identified and purified on phosphorylated cellulose column and characterized. Analyses by Sephadex G-75 gel chromatography indicates that the heat-labile cellular nuclease has molecular weight of about 16,000 similar to those of extracellular and cell-surface bound nucleases. Like the heat-stable nucleases, the heat-labile enzyme acts on both DNA and RNA, is more active on heat-denatured DNA, requires Ca2+ ions for activity and maximum catalytic activity is observed at pH 9.8-10 and at 45 degrees C. The results suggest that the three enzymes have properties strikingly similar to one another and therefore may be related structurally.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are synthesized by bacteria under unfavourable growth conditions like excess of carbon over nitrogen, coupled with oxygen limitation. The PHA polymers of microbial origin are diverse in chemical composition and material properties. A bioprocess for PHA production by indigenously isolated Bacillus flexus MTCC 12841 was devised and optimized at a laboratory fermentor scale. Fermentation strategies that involved modifications in some parameters like aeration, agitation, temperature, nutrient feeding or changes in C:N ratio led to substantial improvement of 59% in PHA production reaching highest concentration of 9.73 g/L. Biomass too was enhanced to 15.70 g/L equivalent to 126% increase over the optimized shake flask runs. PHA (Yp/s) and biomass (Yx/s) yields were found to be 0.32 and 0.51 g/g respectively, indicating good carbon utilization efficiency. The characterization of polymer by GC-MS revealed that the culture produced poly-3-hydroxybutyrateco-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) as a co-polymer. The novelty of the research findings lies in the demonstration of increased production of PHA at lab fermentor level coupled with the identification of the natural ability of the strain to also produce PHBV without any need for exogenous addition of precursors. The fermentation process as well as the strain may be subjected to further optimization to increase the PHA production as well as to increase the % of HV content in the co-polymer.

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