Evaluation of lactic acid bacterial communities in spontaneously-fermented dairy products from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan using culture-dependent and culture-independent methods

Abstract

In this study, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) communities in 68 samples of spontaneously-fermented dairy products from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan were investigated using traditional culture methods combined with PacBio single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology. In the 518 LAB strains isolated using the culture-dependent method, the dominant species was Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. A total 75 species of LAB were identified using SMRT sequencing; amongst these Lactobacillus delbrueckii (50.85%) was the predominant species. We compared the LAB communities from different countries (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan) and different milk sources (fermented cows' milk, fermented mares’ milk, cheese). Our results showed that variation in LAB communities from spontaneously-fermented dairy products from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan depended on geographical location. These data provide the basis for development and use of LAB resources. Moreover, this study provides new insights that can be applied in starter culture development as well as microbial functionality studies.