Nat Microbiol. 2026 Jun 12. doi: 10.1038/s41564-026-02380-w. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Probiotic supplements are marketed for diverse health benefits, yet species inclusion often lacks functional rationale. Our survey of 352 over-the-counter probiotic products available in the USA revealed 36 unique microbial species. However, there is no clear link between species inclusion and the intended health benefit. Here, to address this gap, we developed HaPaPro, a collection of 1,012 genome-scale metabolic models spanning pathogenic, probiotic and host-associated bacteria, constructed from publicly available genome sequences. Flux balance analysis revealed that probiotic species fail to capture the metabolic diversity of host-associated microbes. Focusing on vaginal health, we computationally identified vaginal microbes with metabolic profiles overlapping Gardnerella vaginalis. In vitro spent media assays using 11 vaginal isolates showed variable inhibition of G. vaginalis, primarily driven by D-lactic acid production, which was also produced by non-Lactobacillus species. These findings highlight the need for function-based probiotic design and demonstrate a scalable framework integrating metabolic modelling with experimental validation.
PMID:42286247 | DOI:10.1038/s41564-026-02380-w