O e n o c o c c u s O e n i
(O. oeni)
I hope this page will been informative to you and answered most if not all the questions you had on O. oeni. The purpose of this page is to provide a center for information on O. oeni, which is quite hard to come by. Enjoy!
An interview with Oenococcus Oeni.
O. oeni is one of the primary bacteria required in the fermentation of food but more specifically, the creation of wine. It is gram positive and (+) a facultative anaerobe, meaning that it can use oxygen, but it is not necesary to its survival.
Where would I find O. oeni? What is its natural habitat?
The natural habitat of O. oeni is in rotting fruit mashes. O. oeni plays a key role in the fermentation of fruit which helps further the process of decomposition the fruit. So whenever you are around rotting fruit, you will know that O. oeni is right there with you. Also, if you have ever been around fruit that has been rotting a long time you will smell something like alchohol. This is because of the fermentation in the fruit, thanks to O. oeni, creates natural alchohol.
Who and what does O. Oeni benefit?
O. oeni benefits many people, but mainly people who enjoy a nice glass of wine! However, O. oeni may be making a big impact of the wine and food world soon even more than it has today. People are beginning to study the sequence of O. oeni. This is to help further the study of lactic acid bacteria genomes that can then hopefully lead to a better understanding of fermantation and foods.
What does O. oeni look like?
The shape of O. oeni is described by many as hundreds spherical cells that pair together and form long chains as you can see in fig. 1 and fig. 2. O. oeni also lacks flagella.
[Figure 1] [Figure 2]
How does O. oeni reproduce?
O. oeni is completely asexual and does not require a male or female counterpart.
What if O. oeni just disappeared one day? What would happen?
The day when O. oeni disappears will be a sad, and smelly one. If O. oeni disappeared you would be up to your neck in fruit, granted, without O. oeni fruit can decompose, but not as fast. So, you would be up to neck in not just fruit, but rotting fruit. Yuck! O. oeni in the world of decomposition acts much like other bacteria when it comes to decomposing carcasses and such. If you take away those bacteria, you would be up to your neck in rotting matter. Ewww...
What about the history of O. oeni?
Well, when it was first discovered, O. oeni was actually called Leuconostoc Oeni because in 1965, it was placed in the Leuconostoc genus for having many characteristics like many other Leuconostoc species. However, in 1995, O. oeni was moved to the Oenococcus genus and got its now current name of Oenococcus Oeni. O. oeni is also commonly compared with Lactobacillus because it shares several traits with it. The genus of Oenococcus is in the family of Leuconostocaceae.
What was so different about O. oeni when compared to Lactobacillus?
O. oeni is heterofermentative unlike Lactobacillus. This means that O. oeni can convert glucose to equal amounts of lactic acid, CO2 and ethanol or acetate. The Leuconostoc genus is also not heterofermentative.
Breaking News!
In 2006, a new species was identified and added to the Oenococcus genus. This new species is called Oenococcus Kitharae. Congratulations genus Oenococcus!
Comments (1)
austin butler said
at 12:03 pm on Dec 11, 2007
This website is wonderful and all wine enthusiasts should praise its creators.
You don't have permission to comment on this page.