Comlek peyniri is a typical artisanal cheese in Central Anatolia. This type of cheese was made by using the indigenous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) flora of cow or ewes' milk. Majority of the samples were taken from fresh cheese because the aim was to isolate homofermentative LAB. Initially 661 microbial isolates were obtained from 17 cheese samples. Only 107 were found to be homofermentative LAB. These isolates were selected and identified by using both phenotypic and molecular methods. Phenotypic identification included curd formation from skim milk, catalase test, Gram staining and light microscopy, growth at different temperatures and salt concentrations, arginine hydrolysis, gas production from glucose, and carbohydrate fermentation. Molecular identification was based on the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of the 16S rRNA gene-ITS (internally transcribed spacer) region. By combining the phenotypic and molecular identification results, isolates belonging to each of the following genera were determined at species or subspecies level : 54 Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, 21 Enterococcus faecium, 3 Ec. faecalis, 2 Ec. durans, 10 Ec. sp., 15 Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei, and 2 Lb. casei strains. Technological characterisation was also performed by culturing each of the strains in UHT skim milk, and by monitoring pH change and lactic acid production at certain time intervals through the 24 h incubation. Results of the technological characterisation indicated that 33 % of the isolates (35 strains) were capable of lowering the pH of UHT milk below 5 . 3 after 6 h incubation at 30 8C. Thirty four of these strains were Lc. lactis subsp. lactis, and only one was an Ec. faecium strain.

SummaryThe 16S-ITS (internal transcribed spacer) region of the rrn operon was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The amplification products were analysed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) using a set of restriction enzymes, AluI, HaeIII, and TaqI. Restriction pattern analyses revealed that TaqI restriction enzyme could clearly differentiate the nine reference strains of Lactobacillus used in the study.

No abstract

Plant oils have been used for wide variety purposes for many years in Turkey. These essential oils have usage in many areas such as perfumery, cosmetic, food flavoring and folkloric medicine. In the study, 19 commercial essential oils were studied by means of antibacterial and antioxidant capacity. Antibacterial test was performed against S. aureus, S. epidermidis, K. pneumoniae and E. coli using standard disc diffusion method. Penicillin, gentamicin and vancomycin discs were also included. Inhibition zones (mm) were recorded to indicate antibacterial property. Penicillin (44 mm) and vancomycin (14 mm) could inhibit only S. aureus. Except essential oils of Juniperus nana (Ardıç), Ocimum basilicum (Fesleğen), Urtica dioica (Isırgan), Foeniculum vulgare (Rezene) remaining essential oils indicated antimicrobial activity against some of the test microorganims. The most active essential oil was found as Thymus serpyllum (Kekik). It indicated highest inhibition zones for other microorganisms among others. Antioxidant capacities were measured using photochemiluminescence (PCL) method. The highest antioxidant activity was measured for Dianthus caryophyllus (Karanfil) as 547.781 10 3 µg trolox/mL of oil. It was followed by Thymus serpyllum (Kekik), Lilium candidum (Zambak) and Matricaria chamomilla (Papatya). Especially, Thymus serpyllum and Dianthus caryophyllus have significant antimicrobial and antioxidant capacity therefore it could be suggested for further investigations and applications.