TY - JOUR AU - Metin, Banu AU - Toy, Alya PY - 2022/11/22 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - DYNAMICS OF LACTIC ACID BACTERIA DURING PASTIRMA PRODUCTION JF - Journal of microbiology, biotechnology and food sciences JA - J microb biotech food sci VL - 12 IS - 4 SE - Food Sciences DO - 10.55251/jmbfs.9071 UR - https://office2.jmbfs.org/index.php/JMBFS/article/view/9071 SP - e9071 AB - <p>Pastirma is a traditional dry-cured meat product of Turkey, produced from whole beef or muscles of water buffalo. Studies on the microbial diversity of pastirma generally focus on the final product. In this study, we aimed to determine the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) dynamics during the pastirma production process. Samples were obtained from a commercial producer at four different production stages (after curing, after first drying, before çemen coating, and final product). During the production, the pH level slightly increased from ~5.6 to 5.8, while the water activity (a<sub>w</sub>) decreased to ~0.86 until çemen addition, after which it increased to 0.89. Total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB) and LAB counts increased during the production stages reaching 7.15 and 6.64 log cfu/g, respectively. The most dominant LAB for all stages was <em>Latilactobacillus sakei </em>group with a relative abundance (RA) of 52-73% RA<em>. Weissella</em> species <em>W. viridescens</em> and <em>W. halotolerans</em> followed the <em>L. sakei</em> group. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene indicated that all <em>L. sakei</em> isolates were of subsp. <em>carnosus</em>, however, (GTG)5 fingerprinting demonstrated a high degree of intraspecies variation. Moreover, fingerprinting analysis showed that <em>L. sakei</em> isolates of specific fingerprinting groups were selected towards the final production stages. The present study elucidates how the LAB diversity changes both at the species and intraspecies level during pastirma production.</p> ER -