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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Food Science and Market Quality and Handling Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #430225
Research Project: Improved Vegetable Processing Methods to Reduce Environmental Impact, Enhance Product Quality and Reduce Food Waste

Location: Food Science and Market Quality and Handling Research Unit

Title: Genome sequences of Lactiplantibacillus pentosus isolated from Spanish and Greek table olive fermentations

Author
item LOPEZ-GARCIA, ELIO - Instituto De La Grasa
item BENITEZ-CABELLO, ANTONIO - Instituto De La Grasa
item Perez Diaz, Ilenys
item PANAGOU, EFSTATHIOS - Agricultural University Of Athens
item ARROYO-LOPEZ, FRANCISCO NOE - Instituto De La Grasa
item RUIZ-BARBA, JOSE - Instituto De La Grasa
item MEDINA, EDUARDO - Instituto De La Grasa
item MARIN-GORDILLO, ANA - Instituto De La Grasa

Submitted to: Microbiology Resource Announcements
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/3/2026
Publication Date: 2/23/2026
Citation: Lopez-Garcia, E., Benitez-Cabello, A., Perez Diaz, I.M., Panagou, E.Z., Arroyo-Lopez, F., Ruiz-Barba, J.L., Medina, E., Marin-Gordillo, A. 2026. Genome sequences of Lactiplantibacillus pentosus isolated from Spanish and Greek table olive fermentations. Microbiology Resource Announcements. Vol. 15, No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.01358-25.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.01358-25

Interpretive Summary: The design of functional starter cultures for vegetable fermentations, which are neccesary in the manufacture of pickles and the reclamation of food waste for transformation into healthy products with live microbes, demands fundamental knowledge of the genetics of lactic acid producing bacteria, particularly that of Lactiplantibacillus pentosus. While it is currently understood that the microbiota of commercial vegetable fermentations performed in the USA is more genetically diverse than anticipated, understanding the expansion of such knowledge to fermentations performed around the globe is needed to define sustainability, prevalence, applicability, and functionality. In this effort, ARS scientists collaborated with international experts in the science of vegetable fermentations to elucidate the genetic footprint of Lactiplantibacillus pentosus isolated from commercial olive fermentations performed in Greece and Spain, which are among the countries with the highest annual production of table olives. We learned that the sizes of the genomes in Lactiplantibacillus pentosus isolated in Greece and Spain are similar to those determined for the American isolates, which collectively are larger than the closer phylogenetic relative, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum. We continue to study such genome sequences to understand the need for the larger genomes and the unique functions that may be imparting competitiveness to the Lactiplantibacillus pentosus species in vegetable fermentations.

Technical Abstract: We report 10 annotated, whole-genome sequences of Lactiplantibacillus pentosus isolated from Greek (n=3) and Spanish (n=7) commercial table olive fermentations. The number of contigs per genome sequence fluctuates between 9 and 192.