Phenotypic characterization and species-specific PCR of promising starter culture strains of Lactobacillus plantarum isolated from naturally fermented sausages

Abstract

The purpose of the present work was to characterize promising starter culture strains of Lactobacillus plantarum isolated from naturally fermented artisanal sausage manufactured in the northwestern region of Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. From 127 isolates of homofermentative, Gram-positive and catalase-negative lactic acid bacteria, ten isolates were randomly selected and the phenotypic characterization and species-specific PCR were performed. Genomic DNA from each isolated strain and from the reference strains L. plantarum ATCC 8014 and L. pentosus ATCC 8041 were amplified using two pairs of L. plantarum species-specific primers (16/Lpl and LbP11/LbP12). The results of the phenotypic characterization and species-specific PCR indicated that five out of ten isolates were Lactobacillus plantarum.