Profiling white wine seed vinegar bacterial diversity through viable counting, metagenomic sequencing and PCR-DGGE

• Published in: International journal of food microbiology Vol. 286; pp. 66 - 74
• Main Authors: Milanović, Vesna, Osimani, Andrea, Garofalo, Cristiana, De Filippis, Francesca, Ercolini, Danilo, Cardinali, Federica, Taccari, Manuela, Aquilanti, Lucia, Clementi, Francesca
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 02-12-2018; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Acetic Acid - analysis; Acetic acid bacteria; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacterial diversity; Biodiversity; Biota; Bulk cells; Exploitation; Fermentation; Growth media; Homemade vinegar; Metagenomics; Microbiota; Microbiota - genetics; Microorganisms; Molecular Typing; Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Starter cultures; Vinegar; Vinegar microbiota; Wine; Wine - microbiology; Wines; Vinegar microbiota; Bacterial diversity; Acetic acid bacteria; Homemade vinegar; Bulk cells
• ISSN: 0168-1605; 1879-3460
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2018.07.022

The production of traditional vinegar is usually carried out using the so-called “seed vinegar” or “mother of vinegar” that is composed of an undefined and complex pool of microorganisms deriving from a previous vinegar production. To date, there have been relatively few studies on the microbiota of seed vinegars. The present study was carried out to discover the bacterial biota of seed vinegar samples used in the homemade production of local vinegars obtained from the acetic fermentation of white wine. The seed vinegar samples were subjected to viable counting and advanced molecular analyses, namely, Illumina sequencing and PCR-DGGE. The adopted polyphasic approach allowed the bacterial diversity of the analyzed samples to be profiled, thus revealing the presence of acetic acid bacteria ascribed to the genera Acetobacter, Gluconacetobacter, Gluconobacter and Komagataeibacter. Moreover, other microbial genera as Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Clostridium were abundantly found in almost all the samples, together with other minority genera. The results of viable counting confirmed the well-acknowledged limitations inherent with acetic acid bacteria recovery on plate growth media. The overall results confirmed that seed vinegars have a complex and heterogeneous biodiversity, thus encouraging their exploitation for the isolation and future technological characterization of cultures to be selected for the manufacture of mixed starter cultures.
•The microbiota of seed vinegar samples for the homemade production was investigated.•Acetobacter, Gluconacetobacter, Gluconobacter and Komagataeibacter were detected.•Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Clostridium were abundantly found in almost all the samples.•Viable counting confirmed the limitations inherent acetic acid bacteria recovery.