Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria from Tajikistan Fermented Goat Milk

A fermented goat’s milk produced by the Yaghnobi population in Tajikistan was studied in order to characterize the biodiversity of lactobacilli in the product. A total of 22 lactobacilli were isolated on de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) agar plates. Firstly the strains were characterized phenotypically and genotypically in order to identified these at species level. Phenotyping characterization included gram staining, testing for the presence of catalase and oxidase enzymes, as well as for the type of isomer of lactic acid produced. The 16S rRNA gene, RNA polymerase alpha subunit (rpoA), phenylalanyl - tRNA synthase alpha subunit (pheS), and ATP synthase alpha chain (atpA) genes of all strains were amplified and sequenced; moreover strains were studied for their clonal relationships by means of amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA). Based on this polyphasic approach, the species could be identified as Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus helveticus , Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus casei species The present work, for the first time, provides a deep characterization of lactobacilli population of a traditional fermented goat’s milk from the Yaghnobi people which so far has not been studied.