General procedure for identification of lactic acid bacteria
Firstly the bacterial isolates were characterized using phenotypic tests in order to verify that the isolates were lactic acid bacteria and to have phenotypic profiles. Strains belonging to groups of lactic acid bacteria with different phenotypic profiles and from milk samples from different farms were selected for the continuation of the character- ization: PCR to confirm the Lactococcus lactis subspecies and the genus of the other lactic acid bacteria completed by REP-PCR, a molecular tool which is useful for elucidating relationships within and between bacterial species (Mancuso et al., 2007). Finally, the strains with differ- ent profiles (phenotypic, Rep-PCR) were sequenced and subsequently assigned at species or subspecies level.