16S rRNA BASED PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF LACTOBACILLUS PLANTARUM ISOLATED FROM VARIOUS FERMENTED FOOD PRODUCTS OF ASSAM

Abstract

Although the isolation of Lactobacillus plantarum, a lactic acid bacteria from ‘khorisa’, a fermented food product of Assam, has been previously reported but the study on diversity among different species was left unexplored. Moreover, identification of those isolates was based on conventional and species specific polymerase chain reaction. However, in this study an attempt was made to identify and study the diversity of L. plantarum from fermented food products of Assam based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The phylogenetic tree revealed that most of the study isolates are closely related to L. plantarum strains from Tibet plateau (Silage) and Italy (Sicily).