A specific oligonucleotide primer for the rapid detection of Lactobacillus lindneri by polymerase chain reaction

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was developed for the rapid detection of the beer-spoilage heterofermentative lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus lindneri. Three strains, the Chinese brewery isolate DA1, the Japanese commercial beer isolate BG2, and the Japanese brewery isolate SE3, which were serologically classified as belonging to L. lindneri, were used in this study. After sequencing the 16S rDNA of the isolates DA1 and BG2 and the typical beer-spoilage heterofermentative Lactobacillus brevis L63, these sequences were compared with published data. A L. lindneri specific PCR primer, DA-40, was then constructed based on the VI variable region of 16S rDNA. The specificity of PCR using the L. lindneri specific primer DA-40 and the universal primer 907r was examined using five L. lindneri strains: the three isolates described above and two strains from culture collection, DSM 20690 and DSM 20692. A variety of beer-spoilage lactic acid bacteria, including 71 Lactobacillus strains and 13 Pediococcus strains, were also included in this examination. No PCR product was obtained from any DNA with the exception of the five L. lindneri strains, indicating that the L. lindneri specific primer DA-40 was highly specific. The detection limit for L. lindneri in beer was 63 CFU/ 100 mL of beer.