Minoru Shirota, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Minoru Shirota

inventor

Date of Birth: 23-Apr-1899

Place of Birth: Iida, Nagano Prefecture, Japan

Date of Death: 10-Mar-1982

Profession: physician, businessperson, microbiologist, bacteriologist

Nationality: Japan

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Minoru Shirota (?? ?, Shirota Minoru, April 23, 1899 – March 10, 1982) was a Japanese microbiologist.
In the 1920s Shirota identified a strain of lactic acid bacteria that is part of normal gut flora that he originally called Lactobacillus casei Shirota; it appeared to help contain the growth of harmful bacteria in the gut.
The strain was later reclassified as being Lactobacillus paracasei Shirota.He founded the company Yakult Honsha in 1935 to sell beverages containing the strain, branded Yakult.He died in Tokyo, Japan in 1982.