Primers and a specific DNA probe for detecting lactic acid bacteria producing 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde from glycerol in spoiled ciders

Of the 40 strains isolated from several spoiled ciders where glycerol was degraded, 36 were identified as Lactobacillus collinoides, three were Lactobacillus hilgardii, and one was Lactobacillus mali. However, only 30 L. collinoides and two L. hilgardii could degrade glycerol. The glycerol dehydratase activity was shown. The main product of the transformation was 1,3 propanediol. Two DNA primers GD1 and GD2 were chosen in the region encoding one of the subunits of glycerol dehydratase of Citrobacter freundii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Clostridium pastertrianum. A 279-bp amplicon in polymerase chain reaction amplification was obtained with the genomic L. collinoides IOEB 9527 DNA as template. The amino acid sequence deduced from the amplicon DNA sequence showed a very high similarity and identity with the gene of gram-negative and C. pasteurianum species. After labeling, the amplicon was used as DNA probe in dot-blot hybridization with the genomic DNA of all the tested strains. Only strains that could degrade glycerol hybridized. Moreover, polymerase chain reactions using GD1 and GD2 revealed only glycerol dehydratase genes of positive L. collinoides and L. hilgardii strains. The primers and the amplicon proved to be suitable and reliable tools to detect the lactic acid bacteria involved in the deterioration of cider.