kefiran. In 1983, Kandler and Kunath55 identified Lb. kefir as the bacteria responsible
for it. Toba et al.56 isolated a polysaccharide-producing bacterium, which they
named Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens.15 Lactobacillus sp. KPB-167B was published
by Yokoi et al.,57 and Lactobacillus kefirgranum and Lactobacillus parakefir were
reported by Takizawa et al.,30 as the responsible organisms. Yokoi et al.58 were able
to isolate five different polysaccharide-producing bacteria of the genus lactobacillus
from commercially available kefir grains. Yokoi et al. stated this list of bacteria
producing kefiran indicates the complexity of the taxonomic relationships of the bacteria
isolated from kefir, and they implied that other bacteria found in kefir grains
may be capable of producing kefiran-like polysaccharides, especially kefir grains
originating from different geographical locations.