TITLE:
Bacterial Community Diversity of Fermented Pepper in Brazzaville Revealed by Illumina Miseq of 16S rRNA Gene
AUTHORS:
Angélique Espérance Lembella Boumba, Augustin Aimé Lebonguy, Joseph Goma-Tchimbakala, Stech Anomene Eckzehel Nzaou, Chancelvie Pahivelle Limingi Polo, Mickaëlle Bokamba Moukala
KEYWORDS:
Illumina Miseq, Diversity, Bacteria, Fermented Pepper
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.12 No.1,
January
28,
2021
ABSTRACT: Fermented foods play an important role in the daily life and diet of the
populations in Congo. Among these fermented foods, there is Pilipili or
fermented pepper which is consumed without
prior cooking. The microorganisms present are eaten alive. Few studies
have been carried out on these microorganisms which may have beneficial effects
on health. This study aimed to investing taxonomic diversity of bacterial
communities in 3 samples of fermented peppers produced in 3 distinct areas of
Brazzaville. To do this investigation, Illumina Miseq sequencing of 16S rRNA
gene was used. The results showed that the number of identified operational
taxonomic units (OTUs) ranged from 156 to 392. All OTUs belong to the domain of
Bacteria and could be categorized into 21 Phyla, 36 Classes, 58 Orders, 100
Families and 171 genera. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the main dominant
phyla of the total phyla present with a relative abundance of 89.12% and 8.08%,
respectly. At the class level, Bacili were dominant in EB1 (99.50%), EB3
(85.32%) and EB2 (42.29%) while Clostridia in EB2 (40.10%). Lactobacillus,
Clostridium sensu stricto and Frutobacillus were the dominant genera in the
sample EB1, EB2 and EB3, respectively. The hierarchical classification showed
that the samples EB1 and EB2 form the same group and EB3 is unique. Principal
component analysis showed that the younger EB3 and EB2 samples were more
diverse than the older EB1 sample. This study is a first in Congo on the
diversity of fermented pepper using Illumina Miseq. It has shown that this food
is very diverse and can be a source for the isolation of bacteria with
biotechnological potential.