RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Use of MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry, Ribotyping and Phenotypic Tests to Identify Lactic Acid Bacteria from Fermented Cereal Foods in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)
Amenan A Soro-Yao 1, *, Peter Schumann 2, Philippe Thonart 3, 4, Koffi M Djè 1, Rüdiger Pukall 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 8
First Page: 78
Last Page: 86
Publisher ID: TOMICROJ-8-78
DOI: 10.2174/1874285801408010078
Article History:
Received Date: 4/7/2014Revision Received Date: 18/7/2014
Acceptance Date: 23/7/2014
Electronic publication date: 18 /9/2014
Collection year: 2014

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) protein analysis, automated ribotyping, and phenotypic tests (e.g., cell morphology, gas production from glucose, growth and acid production on homofermemtative-heterofermentative differential (HHD) agar medium, sugar fermentation patterns) were used to identify 23 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from fermented cereal foods available in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Pediococcusacidilactici (56.5%), Lactobacillusfermentum (30.4%), L. salivarius (4.3%), P. pentosaceus (4.3%) and L. plantarum subsp. plantarum (4.3%) were the species and subspecies identified. Protein based identification was confirmed by automated ribotyping for selected isolates and was similar to that provided by the phenotypic characterization. MALDI-TOF MS protein analysis provided a high level of discrimination among the isolates and could be used for the rapid screening of LAB starter cultures.