Molecular identification and quantification of lactic acid bacteria in traditional fermented dairy foods of Russia

Russian traditional fermented dairy foods have been consumed for thousands of years. However, little research has focused on exploiting lactic acid bacteria (LAB) resources and analyzing the LAB composition of Russian traditional fermented dairy foods. In the present study, we cultured LAB isolated from fermented mare and cow milks, sour cream, and cheese collected from Kalmykiya, Buryats, and Tuva regions of Russia. Seven lactobacillus species and the Bifidobacterium genus were quantified by quantitative PCR. The LAB counts in these samples ranged from 3.18 to 9.77 log cfu/mL (or per gram). In total, 599 LAB strains were obtained from these samples using de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe agar and M17 agar. The identified LAB belonged to 7 genera and 30 species by 16S rRNA and murE gene sequencing and multiplex PCR assay. The predominant LAB isolates were Lactobacillus helveticus (176 strains) and Lactobacillus plantarum (63 strains), which represented 39.9% of all isolates. The quantitative PCR results revealed that counts of 7 lactobacilli species and Bifidobacterium spp. of 30 fermented cow milk samples ranged from 1.19 +/- 0.34 (Lactobacillus helveticus in Tuva) to 8.09 +/- 0.71 (Lactobacillus acidophilus in Kalmykiya) log cfu/mL of fermented cow milk (mean +/- standard error). The numbers of Bifidobacterium spp., Lb. plantarum, Lb. helveticus, and Lb. acidophilus revealed no significant difference between the 3 regions; nevertheless, Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus sakei, and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus exhibited different degrees of variation across 3 regions. The results demonstrate that traditional fermented dairy products from different regions of Russia have complex compositions of LAB species. The diversity of LAB might be related to the type of fermented dairy product, geographical origin, and manufacturing process.