Occurrence of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts at species and strain level during spontaneous fermentation of mawè, a cereal dough produced in West Africa

Abstract Mawe is a West African spontaneous fermented cereal-based dough. Different types of mawe exist varying in type of cereal and/or production condition, with fermentations lasting 24–48 h. With the aim of obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the microbial ecology of mawe processing, a microbiological characterisation was performed for four mawe types, produced at eight sites in Benin. At the onset of the fermentations lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast counts were on average 7.5 ± 1.03 and 4.8 ± 0.79 Log 10  cfu/g, which increased to 9.2 ± 0.38 and 7.4 ± 0.42 Log 10  cfu/g, respectively, at the end of the fermentations. LAB (n = 321) and yeasts (n = 298), isolated during the fermentations, were identified. The predominant LAB and yeast species were Lactobacillus fermentum and Pichia kudriavzevii , respectively, followed by Kluyveromyces marxianus , all present throughout the mawe fermentations. Further, microbial successions took place with Weissella confusa occurring mostly at the onset, while Pediococcus acidilactici and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were mainly associated with the end of the fermentations. Species diversity was influenced both by type of cereal and production condition. The dominating strain clusters of L . fermentum and P . kudriavzevii were ubiquitous and strain diversities were influenced by type of cereal and production site.