Phylogenetic identification of microbes from fermented botanicals used in gluten-free composite flour mixes

Phylogenetic information on microbial communities involved in fermenting botanicals has important implications for the food industry since it can provide a valuable perspective on the diversity, composition, and techno-functional properties and characteristics of the final product. Microbial phylogenetic analysis illustrates the evolutionary history of microbes through visual representational graphs (phylogenetic trees) showing the beginning and advancement of their assemblage. In this study, we used molecular methods to determine the phylogenetic identities of microbes occurring in spontaneously fermented sweet potato, maize, and pigeon pea samples after a 72-hourly evaluation every 12 h. The sequences obtained were edited using the bioinformatics algorithm against similar sequences downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database using BLASTN and aligned using ClustalX. The neighbor-joining technique was applied to extrapolate the chronicle of the isolates evolution. Molecular identification from the BLASTN results showed the following bacterial isolates: Lysinibacillus macrolides, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Lactococcus lactis, Providencia stuartii, Enterobacter cloacae, Limosilactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus fermentum, Staphylococcus edaphicus, and Bacillus flexus, as well as the following fungal isolates: Trichosporon asahii, Mucor irregularis, Cladosporium tenuissimum, and Aspergillus niger. The sequences obtained from the isolates produced an exact match with the NCBI non-redundant nucleotide (nr/nt) database. L. lactis had the highest percentage occurrence for bacteria (38.46%), while T. asahii and A. niger showed the highest occurrence for fungi (37.50%). Identifying and characterizing the microorganisms involved in the fermentation process would allow optimizing fermentation conditions to enhance the quality and nutritional value of the final products.