5. Identifying microbial communities during food fermentation and in fermented products The first application of PCR-DGGE in food microbiology was dated 1999, when Ampe et al. publishedwork on the assessment of the spatial distribution of microorganisms in pozol balls, a Mexican fermented maize dough. Lactic acid bacteria were identified by sequencing of the purified DNA fragments from DGGE profiles obtained after extraction of the DNA directly from the pozol samples and amplification of the variable region V3 of the 16S rDNA. Combining the results of the analysis of the DGGE profiles, hybridisation with 16S rRNA probes, and detection of fermentation products, Ampe et al. (1999) gained information on the type of microorganisms, their possible biological role in the pozol dough, and the development of the fermentation. Moreover, comparing the results obtained by the analysis of the bacterial flora by DGGE and the results arising from traditional microbiological analysis, the authors concluded that cultivation-independent methods appeared to be superior to traditional study of fermented foods.Ben Omar and Ampe (2000) further investigated the microflora responsible for the fermentation of the pozol by examining the dynamics of the community during the production of the pozol itself. The authors identified the microbial species dominating at different steps of the process, thus addressing the responsibility of the fermentation and production of essential fermentation compounds to a narrow number of species. Streptococcus spp. dominated the whole process while heterofermentative LAB such as Lactobacillus fermentum were present at the beginning of the fermentation but were further replaced by homofermentative LAB (Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus casei, and Lactobacillus delbrueckii). Important bacteria of fecal origin (Bifidobacterium and Enterococcus) were also found. Ampe et al. (2001) used the same approach to monitor the microbial community responsible for sour cassava starch fermentation, which was shown to be driven by a lactic microflora including members of the genera Streptococcus, Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, and Leuconostoc. In a recent report on cassava dough fermentation,the same authors identified 10 bacterial species by coupling culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques; they also realised that Lactobacillus manihotivorans, L. fermentum, and Lactobacillus crispatus, identified by sequencing of DGGE bands, could not be recovered by cultivation techniques (Miambi et al., 2003). Dairy products are the most studied among foodproducts and the monitoring of dairy fermentation has been carried out by traditional procedures for a long time. The PCR-DGGE approach has been exploited to directly identify microbial species occurring in natural whey cultures (NWCs) used as starter for water buffalo Mozzarella cheese manufacture (Ercolini et al., 2001b). Both thermophilic and mesophilic LAB (Lactic acid bacteria) were identified by sequencing 16S rDNAV3 DGGE fragments from NWCs profiles, namelyL. delbrueckii, L. crispatus, Lactococcus lactis, and Streptococcus thermophilus; moreover, contaminants such as Alishewanella fetalis were also found. Recently, the bacterial community occurring in Stilton cheese was structured by PCR-DGGE and sequencing of the 16S rDNA regions V3 and V4–V5 (Ercolini et al., 2003a). The traditional British cheese was shown to be colonised by a complex microbial flora including L. plantarum, Lactobacillus curvatus, L. lactis, Staphylococcus equorum, Enterococcus faecalis, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. Interestingly, the sequences retrieved from DGGE profiles were used for designing specific probes that were then employed in fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) experiments on cheese sections (Ercolini et al., 2003a) after an appropriate FISH method for cheese had been developed (Ercolini et al., 2003b). Therefore, the authors provided a location of the different microbial species and highlighted a differential distribution of the bacteria into the core, underneaththe crust, and along the veins of Stilton cheese (Ercolini et al., 2003a). Randazzo et al. (2002) have examined the microbial succession during manufacturing of artisanal Sicilian cheese. The 16S rDNA variable region V6– V8 was used in DGGE analysis to identify the total microflora while specific primers for Lactobacillus were employed spanning the V1–V3 region. The analysis of the active microflora was also performed by 16S rRNA reverse transcription (RT) PCR followed by DGGE. DGGE profiles from samples taken during cheese production indicated dramatic shifts inthe microbial community structure.
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