In fish farming, the widespread use of antibiotics as prophylactic and therapeutic agents to control bacterial diseases has been associated with the emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacterial AR-13324 purchase pathogens and with the alteration of the microbiota of the aquaculture environment [2, 3]. This resulted in the ban of antibiotic usage as animal growth promoters in Europe and stringent worldwide regulations on therapeutical antibiotic applications. This scenario has led to an evergrowing interest

in the search and development of alternative strategies for disease control, within the frame of good husbandry practices, including adequate hygiene conditions, vaccination programmes and the use of probiotics, prebiotics and immunostimulants [4–6]. Recently, novel strategies to control bacterial infections in aquaculture have emerged, such as specific killing of pathogenic bacteria by bacteriophages, growth inhibition of pathogen by short-chain fatty acids and polyhydroxyalkanoates, and interference with the regulation of virulence genes (quorum sensing disruption), which have been reviewed by Defoirdt et al.[7]. With regard to learn more probiotics, they are defined as live microbial adjuncts which have a beneficial effect on the host by: (i) modifying the host-associated

or ambient microbial community; (ii) improving feed use or enhancing its nutritional value; (iii) enhancing the

host response towards disease; and/or (iv) improving its environment [8]. To date, most Atazanavir probiotics proposed as biocontrollers and bioremediation agents for aquaculture belong to the LAB group (mainly to the genera Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, Enterococcus and Carnobacterium), to the genera Vibrio, Bacillus, and Pseudomonas or to the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae[8, 9]. Recently, a probiotic culture (Bactocell®, Pediococcus acidilactici CNCM MA18/5 M) has been authorized for the first time for use in aquaculture in the European Union. According to the FAO/WHO [10], the development of commercial probiotics requires their unequivocal taxonomic identification, as well as their in vitro and in vivo functional characterization and safety assessment. In Europe, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) proposed a system for a pre-market safety assessment of selected groups of microorganisms used in food/feed and the production of food/feed additives leading to a Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) status [11–13]. The QPS approach propose that the safety assessment of a defined taxonomic group could be made based on establishing taxonomic identity, body of buy PF-02341066 knowledge, possible pathogenicity and commercial end use.