Fructophilic Lactobacillus kunkeei and Lactobacillus brevis isolated from fresh flowers, bees and bee-hives.

Two-hundred-and-thirty-six isolates were collected from fresh flowers, bees and bee-hives. Of these, 20 isolates preferred D-fructose as carbon source, produced lactic acid and acetic acid but trace amounts of ethanol and were classified as fructophilic. Poor growth was recorded when strains were incubated anaerobically in the presence of D-glucose as sole carbon source. Good growth was, however, recorded when D-glucose was metabolized in the presence of external electron acceptors such as fructose, pyruvate and oxygen. Nineteen of the strains were classified as Lactobacillus kunkeei and one as Lactobacillus brevis based on phenotypic characteristics, 16S rRNA sequences, recA sequences and DNA homology. This is the first description of a fructophilic strain of L. brevis.