title: Characterization of strains of Weissella fabalis sp. nov. and Fructobacillus tropaeoli from spontaneous cocoa bean fermentations.
abstract: Six facultatively anaerobic, non-motile lactic acid bacteria were isolated from spontaneous cocoa bean fermentations carried out in Brazil, Ecuador and Malaysia. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that one of these strains, designated M75(T), isolated from a Brazilian cocoa bean fermentation, had the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity towards Weissella fabaria LMG 24289(T) (97.7%), W. ghanensis LMG 24286(T) (93.3%) and W. beninensis LMG 25373(T) (93.4%). The remaining lactic acid bacteria isolates, represented by strain M622, showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity towards the type strain of Fructobacillus tropaeoli (99.9%), a recently described species isolated from a flower in South Africa. pheS gene sequence analysis indicated that the former strain represented a novel species, whereas pheS, rpoA and atpA gene sequence analysis indicated that the remaining five strains belonged to F. tropaeoli; these results were confirmed by DNA-DNA hybridization experiments towards their respective nearest phylogenetic neighbours. Additionally, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry proved successful for the identification of species of the genera Weissella and Fructobacillus and for the recognition of the novel species. We propose to classify strain M75(T) ( = LMG 26217(T)  = CCUG 61472(T)) as the type strain of the novel species Weissella fabalis sp. nov.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Snauwaert
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Industrial Microbiology and Food Biotechnology (IMDO), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Zoi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Papalexandratou
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Industrial Microbiology and Food Biotechnology (IMDO), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Vuyst
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vandamme
mesh_terms: D001482:Base Composition; D001938:Brazil; D002099:Cacao / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004484:Ecuador; D005285:Fermentation; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D056584:Leuconostocaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008296:Malaysia; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000032:analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D058836:Weissella / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D010457:Peptidoglycan; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S