Characterization of acetic acid bacteria in traditional acetic acid fermentation of rice vinegar (komesu) and unpolished rice vinegar (kurosu) produced in Japan
K. Nanda et al., Characterization of acetic acid bacteria in traditional acetic acid fermentation of rice vinegar (komesu) and unpolished rice vinegar (kurosu) produced in Japan, APPL ENVIR, 67(2), 2001, pp. 986-990
Bacterial strains were isolated from samples of Japanese rice vinegar (kome
su) and unpolished rice vinegar (kurosu) fermented by the traditional stati
c method. Fermentations have never been inoculated with a pure culture sinc
e they were started in 1907. A total of 178 isolates were divided into grou
ps A and B on the basis of enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-
PCR and random amplified polymorphic DNA fingerprinting analyses. The 16S r
ibosomal DNA sequences of strains belonging to each group showed similariti
es of more than 99% with Acetobacter pasteurianus. Group A strains overwhel
mingly dominated all stages of fermentation of both types of vinegar. Our r
esults indicate that appropriate strains of acetic acid bacteria have spont
aneously established almost pure cultures during nearly a century of komesu
and kurosu fermentation.