Authors : Farrah Wahida Othman Ali, A.S. Abdulamir, Abdulkarim Sabo Mohammed, Fatimah Abu Bakar, Yazid Abdul Manap, Anwarul Hidayah Zulkifli and Nazamid Saari
Abstract: GABA is well known for its physiological functions as antioxidant, diuresis, tranquilizer, anti-hypertensive, epilepsy treatment and diabetic prevention. Most of the fermented food products are known and proven for its high content GABA producer, which contributes the food as potential functional foods. Among 5 positive isolates from the Malaysian commercial fermented shrimp product (cincaluk), only one strain of bacteria showed the highest GABA-producing activity. Leuconostoc NC5 showed the highest production ability of both extracellular and intracellular GABA content (2.84±0.19 mM, respectively) with GAD activity at 1.93±0.37 unit. The effect of cultivation time, temperature, pH and different concentration of glutamate, carbon source, nitrogen source and Pyridoxal-5’-Phosphate (PLP) on the production of GABA was investigated. This study concludes that the optimum conditions for GABA production were recorded at the cultivation temperature of 37°C, pH 5.0 and cultivation time at 168 h. Furthermore, the addition of PLP and nitrogen source to the culture medium significantly increased GABA production by 30-fold. Thus, Leuconostoc NC5 can be a potential starter culture for GABA-enriched functional foods. This strain showed a potential of being starter culture for the production of fermented functional foods containing GABA.
Farrah Wahida Othman Ali, A.S. Abdulamir, Abdulkarim Sabo Mohammed, Fatimah Abu Bakar, Yazid Abdul Manap, Anwarul Hidayah Zulkifli and Nazamid Saari, 2009. Novel, Practical and Cheap Source for Isolating Beneficial γ-Aminobutyric Acid-Producing Leuconostoc NC5 Bacteria. Research Journal of Medical Sciences, 3: 146-153.