Detection of Lactobacillus species using a gene fragment of the RNA polymerase beta subunit rpoB

In this paper, we report on the comparative analysis of nucleotide sequences of the rpoB gene to assess its potential for use as a genetic marker for identification of Lactibacillus spp. recovered from acid milk products in different regions of Kazakhstan. The discriminatory power of the rpoB gene sequence was shown to be significantly higher for identification of closely related species of the Lactobacillus genus as compared to that of the 16S rRNA gene. The phylogeny based on the rpoB gene proved identical to that of the 16S rRNA gene and could be used as a supplement phylogenetic marker.