6533b7cefe1ef96bd1256d92

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Screening of lactic acid bacteria for their use as aromatic starters during fermentation of vegetables

subject

description

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have good growth capacities on various food matrices and produce very diverse enzymatic activities which are notably capable of positively modifying the organoleptic properties of fermented foods. Therefore, the selection of the LAB starters possessing good metabolic abilities and interesting enzymatic activities towards the plant matrix could improve the aroma profiles of fermented foods. The main objective of this study was to enhance the aroma profiles of fermented tomatoes by using the biotechnological pathway. To achieve this, firstly, 200 LAB isolated from Cambodian and Vietnamese fermented foods were screened for their β-glucosidase activity and duplicate isolates identified through RAPD-PCR analysis were discarded. Thereby, 40 strains were found positive for β-glucosidase using p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside as substrate. Among them, 14 displayed an activity greater than 10 nmol/min/mg dry cell. Thirteen were identified as Lactobacillus (Lactiplantibacillus) plantarum and one as Lactobacillus (Lactiplantibacillus) pentosus. Four strains of different phenotypes for β-glucosidase activity were tested for ADH activity. The highest reduction ability for hexanal and (E)-2-hexenal was obtained for Lactobacillus (Limosilactobacillus) fermentum V013-1A for which no β-glucosidase activity was detectable. The three other strains (L. plantarum C022-2B, C022-3B and V0023-4B2) exhibited a lower reduction ability and only for hexanal. Secondly, mashed tomatoes were fermented with these four strains individually to evaluate their ability to release volatile compounds from the tomato aroma precursors. Fifty-eight volatile compounds were identified and quantified by HS-SPME/GC-MS. Untreated tomatoes were rich in aldehydes. The tomatoes fermented with L. plantarum strains were rich in ketones whereas those with L. fermentum were rich in alcohols. However, for the generation of terpenoids that provide fruity and floral notes, our screening of β-glucosidase activity was not able to explain the differences among the strains. For ADH activity, L. fermentum exhibited high activity in fermentation as most of the target aldehydes and ketones disappeared and were replaced by their corresponding alcohols. The L. plantarum strains exhibited a lower activity, but with an important substrate-selectivity diversity. A better knowledge of the functionality of each LAB strain in the food matrix will permit to predict and shape the aroma profiles of fermented food.