A highly diverse Acetic Acid Bacterial community is involved in Cocoa fermenting process in Côte d’Ivoire

Cocoa fermentation is led by a succession of complex microbial communities where acetic acid bacteria play key roles for cocoa quality at the end of the process. In this study, the molecular diversity of acetic acid bacteria (AAB) involved in cocoa bean fermentation in six major cocoa producing regions in Côte d’Ivoire was estimated. A total of 694 acetic acid bacteria isolated during six days of fermentation was identified using 16S RNA gene analyses. It was revealed that the AAB fermenting community in Côte d’Ivoire consisted of seven (07) species with a predominance of A. pasterianus, and A. tropicalis. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis indicated an intraspecific diversity among A. tropicalis isolated strains. In addition, it was shown that among the 694 isolates, 222 had a low acetic acid capacity production; while 343 had average capacity and 129 higher capacity. All these data provide new insight about the AAB strains involved in cocoa fermentation in Côte d'Ivoire that could be exploited for selecting appropriate starter cultures to improve this process.
Keywords: Cocoa Fermentation, Acetic acid Bacteria diversity, high Acetic Acid production capacity, Côte d’Ivoire