DETECTION OF PECTINATUS BEER SPOILAGE BACTERIA BY USING THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

Anaerobic bacteria of the genus Pectinatus cause beer spoilage by prod ucing off flavors and turbidity. In unpasteurized beer even a small in itial amount of contamination is likely to lead to a defective product . Detection of Pectinatus by traditional microbiological techniques is time-consuming and not practical as a preventive product control meas ure. In this paper Pectinatus-specific primers capable of discriminati ng among other beer contaminants by polymerase chain reaction are desc ribed. The present procedure, which includes the isolation of DNA from the contaminated beer sample, the polymerase chain reaction, and the electrophoretic identification of the reaction products could be perfo rmed within 10 h. The detection level in inoculated beer samples was c a. 20 cells per ml. The technique therefore has a potential in routine product control.