Microbial Community Structure of Korean Cabbage Kimchi and Ingredients with Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis

Abstract

Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented vegetable food, the production of which involves brining of Korean cabbage, blending with various other ingredients (red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, salt-pickled seafood, etc.), and fermentation. Recently, kimchi has also become popular in the Western world because of its unique taste and beneficial properties such as antioxidant and antimutagenic activities, which are derived from the various raw materials and secondary metabolites of the fermentative microorganisms used during production. Despite these useful activities, analysis of the microbial community present in kimchi has received relatively little attention. The objective of this study was to evaluate the bacterial community structure from the raw materials, additives, and final kimchi product using the culture-independent method. Specifically, polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) was used to analyze the 16S rRNA partial sequences of the microflora. One primer set for bacteria, 341F(GC)-518R, reliably produced amplicons from kimchi and its raw materials, and these bands were clearly separated on a 35-65% denaturing gradient gel. Overall, 117 16S rRNA fragments were identified by PCR-DGGE analysis. Pediococcus pentosaceus, Leuconostoc citreum, Leuconostoc gelidum, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides were the dominant bacteria in kimchi. The other strains identified were Tetragenococcus, Pseudomonas, Weissella, and uncultured bacterium. Comprehensive analysis of these microorganisms could provide a more detailed understanding of the biologically active components of kimchi and help improve its quality. PCR-DGGE analysis can be successfully applied to a fermented food to detect unculturable or other species.

Microbiota Succession and Chemical Composition Involved in the Radish Fermentation Process in Different Containers

“…Leuconostoc and Weissella were identified as the dominant genera in kimchi (Plengvidhya et al, 2007;Xiong et al, 2012), they were also detected in this study but with a relatively low abundance. Pediococcus commonly increased with the ongoing fermentation in pickles (Hong et al, 2016;Cao et al, 2017;Liang et al, 2018a), which agrees with the change trend in this study, especially in PL. In addition, and in line with other previous research (Liang et al, 2018a), Vibrio was also detected in our samples and its population declined along with the fermentation process.…”

The Microbiome of an Active Meat Curing Brine

“…This technology provides the ability to monitor the relative abundance of organisms present, as well as giving an in-depth investigation into the community dynamics and temporal fluctuations of the microorganisms. Fermented foods have previously been investigated by microbiome analysis with great success, for example in the dairy industry (Walsh et al, 2016; Zalewska et al, 2017), the vegetable industry (Hong et al, 2016) and the meat industry (Fontana et al, 2016). Within the meat industry there has been a number of investigations into dry curing (Greppi et al, 2015; Polka et al, 2015; Ramos et al, 2017), however brine, as that used in the production of Wiltshire cured hams, has had little examination and characterization.…”

Kazachstania turicensis CAU Y1706 ameliorates atopic dermatitis by regulation of the gut–skin axis

“…Kimchi, a traditional Korean dish made from fermented vegetables, has been used as a health food in light of its beneficial effects on human health (Park et al, 2014). Many studies have documented the microbial communities of kimchi and their role in fermentation (Jeong et al, 2013;Hong et al, 2016).…”