Prevalence and fingerprinting of lactic acid bacteria community during 180 days of ripening in traditional Turkish goatskin bag Tulum cheeses produced in the mountainous region of Karaman using culture-dependent and -independent methods

The lactic acid bacteria (LAB) prevalence and dynamics of goatskin Tulum cheese produced in mountainous region of Karaman province of Turkey throughout 180 days of ripening were investigated using culture-dependent and -independent (PCR-DGGE) methods. This study used the V3-region of the 16S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing to characterise the LAB community of this cheese. Microbial counts were variable throughout the ripening. In the culture-dependent method, Enterococcus faecium shared dominance with Enterococcus hirae species at the end of the ripening, followed by Lactobacillus plantarum species. On the other hand, Streptococcus strains were predominant at the initial stage of the ripening, while E. faecium strains were identified, as well as Enterococcus faecalis and Lactococcus garvieae strains, using molecular techniques at the end of ripening. It was inferred that using these two methods together gave more information about the biodiversity and dynamics of LAB in artisanal goatskin Tulum cheeses during ripening.