About the Authors

Siou-Ru Shen

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft

Affiliations Center for Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Syngen Biotech Co., Ltd., Tainan, Taiwan

Wei-Jen Chen

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Resources, Supervision

Affiliations Syngen Biotech Co., Ltd., Tainan, Taiwan, Graduate Institute of Management, Minghsin University of Science and Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan

Hui-Fang Chu

Roles Resources, Supervision

Affiliation Syngen Biotech Co., Ltd., Tainan, Taiwan

Shiuan-Huei Wu

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision

Affiliation Syngen Biotech Co., Ltd., Tainan, Taiwan

Yu-Ru Wang

Roles Formal analysis, Writing – original draft

Affiliations Center for Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Tang-Long Shen

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

shentl@ntu.edu.tw

Affiliations Center for Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Competing Interests

The authors declare that this study received funding from Syngen Ministry of Science and Technology. Syngen Biotech Co., Ltd. Provides conceptualization, experimental materials, and data analysis. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section. SRS, WJC, HFC, and SHW are employees of Syngen Biotech Co., Ltd. that markets Streptococcus thermophilus ST4 products and holds patents and trademarks, other authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.