GENOME DIVERSITY IN SEVERAL STRAINS OF LEUCONOSTOC-OENOS FROM THE CHIANTI REGION

Total DNA restriction pattern analysis was employed to study the genome diversity among several strains of lactic acid bacteria, isolated from Chianti wines and previously attributed to the species Leuconostoc oenos. A reference strain and a selected strain sold as starter culture of male-lactic fermentation were included too. All strains had very similar total DNA restriction patterns, differing for at least few bands. Unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) clustering of the S-D matrices obtained from analysis restriction patterns confirmed the attribution of Chianti strains to the species Leuconostoc oenos. The possible application of use of restriction pattern analysis to strain typing and monitoring in wine biotechnology is discussed.