Major microbiota of lactic acid bacteria from Matsoni, a traditional Georgian fermented milk

ABSTRACT A total of 26 samples of Matsoni were collected in Georgia. From these samples 80 strains of lactic acid cocci and 173 strains of lactobacilli were isolated. The number of lactic acid bacteria varied between 105 and 1010 colony forming unit (CFU)/mL. All the isolated lactic acid bacteria were thermophilic bacteria that could grow at 45°C. The predominant lactic acid bacteria were Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii spp. bulgaricus in 25 samples of Matsoni, while Lactobacillus helveticus was also a predominant species, together with the two previous species in one sample of Matsoni. We showed there was diversity in both S. thermophilus and L. delbrueckii spp. bulgaricus at the strain level by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis.