Isolation and characterization of halophilic lactic acid bacteria isolated from “terasi” shrimp paste: A traditional fermented seafood product in Indonesia

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria from “terasi” shrimp paste, a highly popular fermented seafood in Indonesia were isolated and characterized. Viable cell counts were 10⁴ to 10⁶ cfu/g on MRS medium. All the isolates were catalase-negative, gram-positive cocci and were able to grow at 15% NaCl. Numerical phenotypic analysis showed that the isolates clustered into one group. However, they could be classified into two types: the Tetragenococcus halophilus group and the T. muriaticus group as revealed by a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. This study is the first to show that both species of Tetragenococcus are distributed in Indonesian fermented foods.