Genome sequencing of L. plantarum for the industrial production of brewed tea

The brewed tea is a traditional microbial fermented beverage produced in China, Indochina and Japan. Although lactic acid bacteria are mainly involved in the fermentation of tea leaves, some production methods involve filamentous fungi and yeasts in addition to lactobacilli. We focused on the production of industrial brewed tea to ensure stable production on a large scale and investigated lactobacilli as a candidate for fermentation starter to manufacture the production. Lactobacilli was isolated from a dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) in Kamigare, Gifu, Japan, and identified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum by 16s rRNA analysis. The isolated L. plantarum investigated the production of organic acid, sugar utilization, and biochemical properties to assess the adaptation for brewed tea production. We also performed whole-genome sequencing of the isolated L. plantarum by Oxford Nanopore MinION MkB high-throughput sequencer to define the genes encoded in the L. plantarum. As a result, sufficient lactic acid production was observed, and the lactobacillus indicates to possess the potential as a fermentation starter. We also found the strain encoded some plantaricin and bacteriocin-associated genes in the genome.