This study aimed to investigate the possibility of rapid identification of
isolated bacteria Leuconostoc from Syrian white fresh cheese made of cow and
ewe milk using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). 20 isolates (14
from ewe milk ch
eese and 6 from cow milk cheese) were isolated. These isolates
were pretasted with PCR technique using specific primers. Results indicated
that these isolates are belonged to the genus Leuconostoc and 12 of them are
belonged to Ln. mesenteroides species. The results of FTIR technique showed in
comparison to device library that all isolates are belonged to genus
Leuconostoc, and 4 of these isolates are belonged to Ln. citreum species which
could not be identified using PCR method (with the used primers), and helped
to identify the following subspecies: Ln.mesenteroides subsp mesenteroides and
Ln. mesenteroides subsp dextranicum while PCR technique described them
belonging only to a Ln. mesenteroides species. Moreover, FTIR technique was
able to give the results within 25 hours, thus it can be used in identification of
food bacteria more quickly.
This research was conducted in the Agriculture Faculty- Food Science
Department, Damascus University, for detecting Lactic acid bacteria isolated
from Syrian dairy products (white fresh cheese-Leben), Samples were collected
from August, 2004 to Oc
tober, 2005 from different areas in Syria. Analysis was
done for 245 bacterial isolates from 40 samples of white fresh cheese and 58
samples of yogurt (curd). Results showed that the genus Enterococcus was
dominant with a percentage of 47.52%; Pediococcus had a percentage of 26.3
%; while Lactococcus had a percentage of 15.38% with only 3.2% for
Lactobacillus.
