Minoru Shirota

Minoru Shirota was a Japanese microbiologist who made pioneering research on gut microbiota and developed the first commercial probiotic. In the 1930, he identified a strain of lactic acid bacteria that is part of normal gut flora that he originally called Lactobacillus casei Shirota, which appeared to help contain the growth of harmful bacteria in the gut. The species was later reclassified as Lactobacillus paracasei.