Lactobacillus acidophilus can live in very harsh environments, like many species in the division of Firmicutes. It can survive in acidic environments with a pH of 4.5 and lower. Although it can live in a very acidic environment, L. acidophilus can be killed by excess heat, moisture, or direct sunlight. It lives in the human gastrointestinal tract, and after taking antibiotics which kill many microflora in your body, it can be taken in supplements to replace the killed bacteria. Lactobacillus acidophilus’ main biproduct is lactase, an enzyme that breaks down milk sugars into simpler sugars. The enzyme lactase can only do one job, and that is the breakdown of lactose into glucose and galactose. There are many enzymes in our bodies that do many different things, and lactase is a very important one for digestion. Those who are lacking lactase in their body cannot digest lactose, and are called lactose intolerant.
This is a picture of the rod shaped L. acidophilus, surrounding a Squamus epithelial cell, like the ones that we scraped from our cheek in class.
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