title: Predominance of Tetragenococcus halophilus as the cause of sugar thick juice degradation.
abstract: The industrial storage of sugar thick juice was simulated on a laboratory scale. Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis and the application of Clone Libraries in parallel with classical microbiology were used to study the bacterial diversity and all revealed a dominance (>99%) of Tetragenococcus halophilus during storage. The degradation of thick juice correlated with the appearance of L-lactic acid and high concentrations of T. halophilus. In addition, pure cultures of T. halophilus induced degradation of sterile thick juice. A specific PCR was developed to detect T. halophilus and industrial thick juice samples from Belgium, Germany and France all contained T. halophilus, suggesting a consistent association of this organism with thick juice. T. halophilus has been known only as a halophile thus far, and this report is the first to show an association of this organism with a sugar-rich environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Centre for Food and Microbial Technology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Annelies
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Justé
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lievens
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klingeberg
authors.forename: Chris W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Michiels
authors.forename: Terence L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.forename: Kris A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Willems
mesh_terms: D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005519:Food Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D007218:Industrial Microbiology / Q000379:methods*; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S