Intraspecific genetic diversity of lactic acid bacteria from malolactic fermentation of Cencibel wines as derived from combined analysis of RAPD-PCR and PFGE patterns

Abstract Three molecular techniques, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR), pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and differential display-polymerase chain reaction (DD-PCR) have been used to assess the intraspecific diversity of the lactic microbiota responsible for spontaneous malolactic fermentation (MLF) in Cencibel wines made at a cellar in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). The results indicate that RAPD-PCR and PFGE are of value in typing this microbiota. Better discrimination was achieved by RAPD-PCR. Reproducibility using DD-PCR was not good, which makes this method unsuitable. Combined numerical analysis of the patterns obtained from RAPD-PCR and PFGE allowed a better discrimination; this would therefore be a suitable tool to discriminate the diversity of bacterial communities like those found in MLF of wines. Genetic diversity data from combined numerical analysis suggest that there is considerable microbial diversity within MLF of Cencibel wines, with some genotypes coinciding in the two vinifications analysed.