Distribution of lactic acid bacteria in fermented mare's milk in Mongolian region

Abstract

 We isolated 128 cocci and 126 rods (total 254 strains) of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from 10 samples of fermented mare's milk that were collected from different nomadic families in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China, respectively. The isolated strains were identified on the basis of their morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics, and homology of 16S rDNA. Among the isolates, five species (34 strains) of cocci and 6 species (79 strains) of rods were identified in 3 samples of Mongolia. Of the coccal strains, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (15.9%) and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. dextranicum (9.7%) were detected at high levels, while Lactobacillus curvatus (33.6%), Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei (19.5%) and Lactobacillus brevis (14.2%) were detected at high levels as species of lactobacilli. On the other hand, five species (94 strains) of cocci and 2 species (47 strains) of rods were identified in 7 samples of Inner Mongolia, China. Of the coccal strains, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (42.6%), Leuconostoc lactis (9.9%) and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides (8.5%) were detected at high levels, while Lactobacillu paracasei subsp. paracasei (31.9%) and Lactobacillu curvatus (1.4%) were detected at high levels as species of lactobacilli. These results indicate that Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei were the predominant species as mesophilic homo-fermentative LAB. However, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus acidophilus were identified as thermophilic homo-fermentative LAB in the samples from Mongolia.