Probiotic Potential and Characterization of Enterococcus faecium Strains Isolated from Camel Milk: Implications for Animal Health and Dairy Products"

In this study, 62 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains were isolated from raw camel milk and evaluated for their probiotic potential. The strains exhibited significant variability in their ability to withstand simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Of the isolates, only 26 survived exposure to pH 2, and just 10 were tolerant to 0.3% bile salts. Partial se-quencing of the 16S rRNA gene identified all strains as belonging to the species Entero-coccus faecium. Several probiotic traits were assessed, including adhesion to gastric mucin and STC-1 in-testinal epithelial cells, as well as auto-aggregation and co-aggregation capacities. Alt-hough adhesion to hydrophobic solvents such as chloroform and ethyl acetate was generally low to moderate, all strains demonstrated strong adhesion to gastric mucin, exceeding 60% at all growth stages. Notably, two strains—SCC1-33 and SLch6—showed particularly high adhesion to STC-1 cells, with values of 7.8 × 10³ and 4.2 × 10³ CFU/ml, respectively. The strains also exhib-ited promising aggregation properties, with auto-aggregation and co-aggregation rang-ing between 33.10% and 63.10%. Furthermore, all isolates displayed antagonistic activity against Listeria innocua, Micro-coccus luteus, and Escherichia coli. Cytotoxicity assays confirmed that none of the test-ed strains had harmful effects on STC-1 cells, indicating their safety and supporting their potential application as probiotics.