HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Interpretive Summary Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wang, S. Y. Articles by Chen, M. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wang, S. Y. Articles by Chen, M. J.

Identification of Yeasts and Evaluation of their Distribution in Taiwanese Kefir and Viili Starters

S. Y. Wang^*, H. C. Chen, J. R. Liu^,, Y. C. Lin and M. J. Chen^,,1

^* Experimental Farm,
Department of Animal Science and Technology,
Institute of Biotechnology, and
Research Center of Food and Biomolecules, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

¹ Corresponding author: cmj{at}ntu.edu.tw

The objective of the present study was to investigate yeast communities in kefir grains and viili starters in Taiwan through conventional microbiological cultivation and polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The DNA sequencing was used as a validity technique to ensure that all isolates within each group belonged to just one species, and to confirm the identified results of PCR-DGGE. Results indicated that a combination of conventional microbiological cultivation with PCR-DGGE and sequencing could successfully identify 4 yeast species from both types of cultures in Taiwan. Kluyveromyces marxianus, Saccharomyces turicensis, and Pichia fermentans were found in Taiwanese kefir grains with a distribution of 76, 22, and 2%, respectively, whereas Klu. marxianus, Saccharomyces unisporus and P. fermentans were identified in viili starters corresponding to 58, 11, and 31% of the total cell counts, respectively. Furthermore, the culture-independent method was applied to identify the yeast species using DGGE. Only 2 yeast species, Klu. marxianus and S. turicensis, were found in kefir grains and 2, Klu. marxianus and P. fermentans, in viili starters. These results suggest that in samples containing multiple species, PCR-DGGE may fail to detect some species. Sequences of yeast isolates reported in this study have been deposited in the GenBank database under accession nos. DQ139802, AF398485, DQ377652, and AY007920.

Key Words: yeast • kefir grain • viili • denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T.-H. Chen, S.-Y. Wang, K.-N. Chen, J.-R. Liu, and M.-J. Chen Microbiological and chemical properties of kefir manufactured by entrapped microorganisms isolated from kefir grains J Dairy Sci, July 1, 2009; 92(7): 3002 - 3013. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]