Isolation and characterization of halophilic lactic acid bacteria acting as a starter culture for sauce fermentation of the red alga Nori (Porphyra yezoensis).
OBJECTIVE
A screening test was conducted for environmental samples to isolate halophilic lactic acid bacteria (HLAB) that can act as a starter in a Nori (Porphyra yezoensis)-sauce culture.


RESULTS
After 9 months of incubation of enrichment cultures added with 25 kinds of environmental samples, growth of HLAB-like microorganisms was observed in six cultures salted at a 15% w/w level, including culture samples originally from mesopelagic water taken from 321 m-depth and from mountain snow taken at 2450 m-height. Ten strains were isolated and characterized as Tetragenococcus halophilus based on sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. The isolates were inoculated into a newly prepared Nori-sauce culture and were confirmed to be able to act as a starter culture while three reference strains of T. halophilus obtained from a culture collection could not grow in the same culture.


CONCLUSIONS
Halophilic lactic acid bacteria strains that can make growth in a highly salted Nori-sauce culture were isolated from environmental samples for the first time. All the isolates were identified as T. halophilus.


CONCLUSIONS
The isolated strains are expected to be utilized as a starter culture for manufacturing fermented seaweed-sauce, which will be the first fermented food products obtained from algae.
National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea, Fisheries Research Agency, Maruishi, Hatsukaichi, Japan.
M
M
Uchida
T
T
Miyoshi
G
G
Yoshida
K
K
Niwa
M
M
Mori
H
H
Wakabayashi
D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D056569:Enterococcaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D005285:Fermentation; D005516:Food Microbiology; D019344:Lactic Acid; D044664:Porphyra; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012965:Sodium Chloride
D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D019344:Lactic Acid; D012965:Sodium Chloride
algae; fermentation; fermented foods; food processing; lactic acid bacteria