Sipping Science: Unraveling Kombucha's Microbial Mysteries Through DNA Barcoding
Disciplines
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Genetics
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage that boasts many gut health benefits. It is a large business with many brands consumed worldwide. Each different brand claims to use their own starter cultures, all with slightly different microbial species listed on the labels. Our purpose is to determine the accuracy of these claims and if they contain bacteria that’s not listed. The main questions are what is the difference in bacterial community between brands and are the bacterial communities listed completely accurate? Previous research has not covered the microbial communities in all brands that were surveyed. The brands selected (based on availability) for DNA isolation were GT’s Synergy, KEVITA, and GreenWise. The DNA extraction protocol followed was PureLink Microbiome DNA Purification kit protocol. The isolated genomic DNA was 16S DNA barcode sequenced by LC Sciences on an Illumina NovaSeq platform according to the manufacturer's recommendations. The results will identify the microbial communities present and their relative abundance within our samples. The data will be compared within and among the sampled brands. We expect to find similarities and differences in microbial diversity among brands. We do not expect to find significant levels of foreign bacteria present.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CSM - Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Thomas McElroy
Sipping Science: Unraveling Kombucha's Microbial Mysteries Through DNA Barcoding
Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage that boasts many gut health benefits. It is a large business with many brands consumed worldwide. Each different brand claims to use their own starter cultures, all with slightly different microbial species listed on the labels. Our purpose is to determine the accuracy of these claims and if they contain bacteria that’s not listed. The main questions are what is the difference in bacterial community between brands and are the bacterial communities listed completely accurate? Previous research has not covered the microbial communities in all brands that were surveyed. The brands selected (based on availability) for DNA isolation were GT’s Synergy, KEVITA, and GreenWise. The DNA extraction protocol followed was PureLink Microbiome DNA Purification kit protocol. The isolated genomic DNA was 16S DNA barcode sequenced by LC Sciences on an Illumina NovaSeq platform according to the manufacturer's recommendations. The results will identify the microbial communities present and their relative abundance within our samples. The data will be compared within and among the sampled brands. We expect to find similarities and differences in microbial diversity among brands. We do not expect to find significant levels of foreign bacteria present.
