Lactobacillus hilgardiiand Lactobacillus brevisDNA analysis by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)

Fifteen heterofermentative lactobacilli belonging to the Lactobacillus hilardii and Lactobacillus brevis were studied. In a DNA/DNA hybridization test most of them give the expected answer since their DNA hybridized with the reference strain DNA probe from the same species. However, strains (of L. brevis) strongly hybridized with L. hilgardii ATCC 8290. This raised doubts on their taxonomical position because they had previously been identified as L. brevis.