Screening and Evaluation of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum HNGD-YC1 for Mitigation of Advanced Glycation End Products in Food Matrices

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), stable glycation/glycoxidation products generated during thermal processing, accumulate in foods and pose health risks. Current mitigation strategies primarily focus on inhibiting AGEs formation rather than reducing already formed products, highlighting the need for effective approaches to reduce pre-formed AGEs. In this study, a food-grade lactic acid bacterium (LAB) capable of efficiently reducing fluorescent AGEs was isolated from naturally fermented foods using AGEs as the primary nitrogen source. From 1213 presumptive LAB isolates, three candidates with fluorescent AGEs reduction rates exceeding 50% were obtained, among which strain HNGD-YC1 exhibited the highest activity and was selected for further characterization. The strain was identified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum through morphological, phylogenetic, and whole-genome ANI analyses and demonstrated favorable in vitro probiotic-related properties, including acid and bile salt tolerance, as well as a genomic safety profile. Whole-genome sequencing revealed candidate genes encoding proteases, glycoside hydrolases, and carbohydrate esterases, suggesting a putative multi-enzymatic mechanism involved in the reduction of fluorescent AGEs, which warrants further experimental validation. In food matrix applications, fermentation with HNGD-YC1 reduced fluorescent AGEs by 68.70% in spray-dried milk powder and 56.39% in roasted pork powder, while also reducing multiple other protein oxidation products and partially recovering the protein secondary structure parameters. These findings establish HNGD-YC1 as a promising candidate, providing a novel approach for developing low-AGEs fermented products.