Evaluation of numerical analyses of RAPD and API 50 CH patterns to differentiate Lactobacillus plantarum, Lact. fermentum, Lact. rhamnosus, Lact. sake, Lact. parabuchneri, Lact. gallinarum, Lact. casei, Weissella minor and related taxa isolated from kocho and tef

Abstract

Aim: The study was carried out to assess the agreement of API 50 CH fermentation data of food lactobacilli with their RAPD pro®les to determine whether the system could be used alone as a reliable taxonomic tool for this genus. Methods and Results: API 50 CH, RAPD and DNA:DNA reassociation data for 42 lactobacilli from tef and kocho were compared with 30 type strains. Discrepancies were observed between the three methods in assigning strains of Lactobacillus plantarum, Lact. fermentum, Weissella minor and Lact. gallinarum, and Lact. fermentum, Lact. amylophilus, Lact. casei subsp. pseudoplantarum and Lact. rhamnosus. DNA reassociation data agreed well with RAPD results. Conclusions: API 50 CH pro®les should be complemented with molecular genetic results for effective identi®cation in Lactobacillus. Signi®cance and Impact of the Study: The study suggested less dependability of metabolic data alone as an identi®cation tool.