LAUSR

Abstract Biological and chemical dynamics were investigated during fermentation of fish sauce inoculated single and combined starter cultures, Virgibacillus sp. SK37 and Tetragenococcus halophilus MS33. At 120–150 days of fermentation, cell numbers of Virgibacillus sp. SK37 and T. halophilus MS33 were lower as detected by qPCR in fish sauce inoculated with a single culture compared with the sample inoculated with combined cultures. In addition, qPCR revealed that the sequential inoculation of Virgibacillus sp. SK37 followed by the addition of T. halophilus MS33 after 1 month (SK37_1M + MS33) showed bacterial counts that were approximately 0.5–1 LogCFU/mL higher than the single starter culture treatments. α-Amino contents of fish sauce added simultaneous co-cultures (MS33 + SK37) and SK37_1M + MS33 were 1160.41 and 1185.71 mM, respectively. SK37_1M + MS33 showed a lower amount of histamine than the control ( P Virgibacillus sp. SK37 or T. halophilus MS33 showed higher amounts of total glutamic acid and greater total amounts of amino acids than the control ( P , P