Dynamics of the microbial community responsible for traditional sour cassava starch fermentation studied by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and quantitative rRNA hybridization
F. Ampe et al., Dynamics of the microbial community responsible for traditional sour cassava starch fermentation studied by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and quantitative rRNA hybridization, INT J F MIC, 65(1-2), 2001, pp. 45-54
The microbial community developing during the spontaneous fermentation of s
our cassava starch was investigated by cultivation-independent methods. Den
aturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of partially amplified 16S rDNA
followed by sequencing of the most intense bands showed that the dominant
organisms were all lactic acid bacteria (LAB), mainly close relatives of Bi
fidobacterium minimum, Lactococcus lactis, Streptococcus sp., Enterococcus
saccharolyticus and Lactobacillus plantarum. Close relatives of Lb. panis,
Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Ln. citreum were also found. A complementary
analysis using hybridization of 16S rRNA with phylogenetic probes was neces
sary to detect the presence of the recently discovered species Lb. manihoti
vorans. Although it represented up to 13% of the total lactic acid bacteria
of sour cassava starch, this species could not be detected by DGGE as the
PCR product migrated to the same position as Lc. lactis. In addition, it wa
s shown that a strong pH decrease in the time course of fermentation was mo
st probably responsible for the competitive selection of acid-resistant LAB
vs. both homo and heterofermentative acid-sensitive LAB. (C) 2001 Elsevier
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