The fermented food Shindari is a low-alcohol drink that is indigenous to Jeju island, South Korea. In this study,the diversity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in Shindari was determined using a culture-dependent method. LAB were culti-vated from Shindari samples using two different LAB culture media. Twenty-seven strains were randomly selected and iden-tified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The identified LAB strains comprised 6 species within the Enterococcus,Lactobacillus and Pediococcus genera. Five of the species, namely Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus fermentum, L. plan-tarum, Pediococcus pentosaceus and P. acidilactici were isolated from MRS medium, while 1 species, L. pentosus, was iso-lated from Rogosa medium. Most of the isolated strains were identified as members of the genus Lactobacillus (78%). Thisstudy provides basic microbiological information on the diversity of LAB and provides insight into the ecological roles ofLAB in Shindari.

• In-Tae Cha(Jeju Center, Korea Basic Science Institute)
• Hae-Won Lee(Jeju Center, Korea Basic Science Institute, World Institute of Kimchi)
• Hye Seon Song(Jeju Center, Korea Basic Science Institute)
• Kyung June Yim(Jeju Center, Korea Basic Science Institute)
• Kil-Nam Kim(Jeju Center, Korea Basic Science Institute)
• Daekyung Kim(Jeju Center, Korea Basic Science Institute)
• Seong Woon Roh(Jeju Center, Korea Basic Science Institute, University of Science and Technology) Corresponding author
• Young-Do Nam(University of Science and Technology, Fermentation and Functionality Research Group, Korea Food Research Institute)