Abstract
Recent investigations have highlighted, both experimentally and clinically, that probiotic strains equipped with arabinofuranosidase, in particular abfA and abfB, favor regular intestinal motility, thus counteracting constipation. By analyzing the gene expression and the proliferative response in the presence of arabinan of the probiotic B. longum W11, a strain previously validated as an anti-constipation probiotic, we have speculated that its response mechanism to arabinan can effectively explain its clinical action. Our approach could be used in the future to select probiotics endowed with arabinofuranosidase-related anti-constipation effects.