Identifications of predominant bacterial isolates from the fermenting kimchi using ITS-PCR and partial 16S rDNA sequence analyses

Despites many attempts to explore the microbial diversity in kimchi fermentation, the predominant flora remains controversial to date. In the present study, major lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were investigated in Chinese cabbage kimchi in the early phase of fermention. For the samples over pH 4.0, viable cell counts of Leuconostoc and Pediococcus were 10(6) cfu/ml and below 10(2) cfu/ml, respectively, and 20 isolates out of 172 were subjected to a biochemical identification (API 50 CH kit) as well as molecular-typing methods including ITS-PCR with a RsaI digestion and 16s rRNA gene sequence analysis for species confirmation. Seven isolates were nicely assigned to Lb. brevis, 6 to Leuconostoc spp. (2 mesenteroides, 2 citreum, 1 carnosum, 1 gasicomitatum), 4 to Weissella (3 kimchii/cibaria, 1 hanii) and 2 to other Lactobacillus spp. (1 farciminis, 1 plantarum). On the other hand, the biochemical identification data revealed 9 strains of Lb. brevis, 6 strains of Leuconostocs, 2 strains of Lb. plantarum and 1 strain each of Lb. coprophilus and Lactococcus lactis. However, a single isolates, YSM 16, was not matched to the ITS-PCR database constructed in the present study. Two Lb. brevis strains by API 50 CH kit were reassigned to W kimchii/cibaria, Lb. coprophilus or W hanii, respectively, judging from the results by the above molecular typing approaches. As a whole, the identification data obtained by the biochemical test were different from those of ITS-PCR molecular method by about 63% at genus-level and 42% at species-level. The data by the ITS-PCR method conclusively suggest that predominant LAB species is probably heterolactic Lb. brevis, followed by W kimchii/cibaria, Leuc. mesenteroides, and Leuc. citreum, in contrast to the previous reports [3] that Leuc. mesenteroides is the only a predominant species in the early phase kimchi fermentation.