Diversity and technological characterization of Pediococcus pentosaceus strains isolated from Nigerian traditional fermented foods

The diversity and technological properties of Pediococcus pentosaceus strains, isolated from some traditional fermented foods in Nigeria, were studied with the aim of selecting suitable strains as a starter and/or adjunct cultures. Eighteen lactic acid bacteria isolates from ogi, gari and fufu were presumptively identified as Pediococcus species using the conventional methods, these isolates were screened for technological and safety properties such as exopolysaccharide production, acidifying activity, antimicrobial activity, and biogenic amine production. The LAB isolates were further differentiated by using internal transcribed spacer-restriction fragment length polymorphism (ITS-RFLP), randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) molecular typing techniques. The Pediococcus sp. displayed antimicrobial activities against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Enterococcus faecium. They all had high acidifying activities and were able to reduce the pH to lower than 5.20 after 24 h. Pediococcus pentosaceus OF31 showed interesting potential technological characteristics due to its antimicrobial activity and exopolysaccharide production. The combination of RAPD-PCR (using primers OPA20 and M13) and PFGE-SfiI genotypic fingerprinting technique allows successful intraspecific differentiation. The present study confirmed the presence of exopolysaccharide-producing strain of P. pentosaceus in indigenous fermented foods which could be used as autochthonous starter culture to impart more functional attributes to fermented foods.