Thursday, May 12, 2016
Megaron Athens International Conference Center
Maria Kazou, Laboratory of Dairy Research, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Voula Alexandraki, Laboratory of Dairy Research, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Marina Koutsoumpou, Laboratory of Dairy Research, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Rania Anastasiou, Laboratory of Dairy Research, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Marina Georgalaki, Laboratory of Dairy Research, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Effie Tsakalidou, Laboratory of Dairy Research, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Konstantinos Papadimitriou, Laboratory of Dairy Research, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Introduction: Table olives are considered to be among the most significant fermented vegetables, mostly in Southern European countries. The microbial ecology of the table olive fermentation process and specifically the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast populations is of fundamental importance to obtain high quality products.
Purpose: Identification of LAB and yeast populations in the Kalamon, Conservolea and Amfissa olive cultivars using both culture-dependent and -independent techniques.
Methods: The olive samples were initially subjected to the classical microbiological analysis using selective growth media. The genomic DNA of the bacterial and yeast isolates was extracted as described previously. The isolates were grouped using the genotyping technique of rep-PCR and representative bacterial and yeast isolates of each group were identified at the species level by sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene and ITS DNA region, respectively. Concerning the metagenomics analysis, total DNA was extracted from the olive samples using a novel protocol developed in our laboratory and the results obtained from the diversity assay were analyzed with the MG-RAST server.
Results: Using culture-dependent approaches, two main species of LAB were identified, namely Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus ethanolidurans, while Pichia was the most frequently isolated yeast genus. On the contrary, metagenomics analysis revealed a vast diversity of bacterial and yeast genera, i.e. 83 and 67, respectively.
Significance: This study is among the first reports on the metagenomics analysis of the microbial diversity of Greek olive cultivars.
