Investigation of Bacterial Diversity in Traditional Meigui Rice Vinegar by PCR-DGGE Method

Abstract

Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was applied to investigate the bacterial community in traditional Meigui rice vinegar produced in Zhejiang province, China. The V3 regions of 16S rDNA were amplified with universal primers (GC-338F and 518R). Nine dominant DGGE bands were isolated, cloned, and sequenced. They were most similar to Acetobacter pasteurianus, A. aceti, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp bulgaricus, Gluconobacter oxydans, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp mesenteroides, Lb. reuteri, Lb. casei, and Lb. acidophilus. Of which, A. pasteurianus and Lb. delbrueckii subsp bulgaricus are two dominant species, and occur along the whole acetic acid fermentation process. Lb. bulgaricus, G. oxydans, and A. pasteurianus dominated in the last phase of the fermentation. G. oxydans is first identified in the Meigui rice vinegar broth, and occurs in the last phase. The DGGE profile also indicated that bacterial community transition took place at the initial stage at which acetic acid fermentation stage started.