주석산은 포도에 상당량 함유되어 있어 포도 주스 또는 포도주의 저장 및 유통 기간 중에 침전물을 형성하여 품질을 저하시킨다. 본 연구에서는 주석산의 분해에 사용될 수 있는 효소 자원의 개발을 목적으로 주석산 분해 세균을 분리하고 그 특성을 조사하였다. 주석산의 함량이 높은 것으로 알려진 국산 캠벨얼리 포도주의 주박으로부터 주석산 분해세균을 집식배양한 후 주석산을 탄소원으로 함유하는 배지를 사용하여 주석산을 분해할 수 있는 세균을 분리하였다. 분리
Several tartaric acid-degrading bacteria were isolated from Korean grape wine pomace after enrichment culture at for 10 days in liquid media containing tartaric acid Among them, strains KMBL 5777 and KMBL 5778 exhibited the highest level in the growth and tartaric acid degradability in a medium containing 0.2%(w/v) tartaric acid as a sole carbon source. They were identified as Acetobacter tropicalis based on their morphological and physiological characteristics as well as their 16S rDNA sequences. Blast search of the 16S rDNA sequences revealed that the isolated strains are closest to Acetobacter tropicalis. Homologies of the sequences of KMBL 5777 and KMBL 5778 were 96.0 and 98.9%, respectively with those of A. tropicalis LMG 1663. Both the two bacteria showed higher tartaric acid degradation at that those at 20 and . They could degrade tartaric acid at a wide range of pH between 4.0 and 7.0 with the most rapid degradability at pH 7.0. However, when the bacteria were grown for 8 days, the same level of tartaric acid degradation was observed at pH 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0, which was 90.0% of degradation of the acid.