Kumaraswamy Jeyaram

Microbial resources associated with traditional fermented foods of North East India

Ethnic people of North-Eastern states of India consume more than hundred varieties of traditional fermented foods, produced by age-old indigenous process of spontaneous fermentation. The Molecular Food Microbiology Research Group of Microbial Resources Division, IBSD is engaged in characterizing the microbial resources and food-borne pathogens associated with these traditional foods using culture-dependent and culture-independent molecular techniques. This group is stepping forward for development of novel fermented functional foods and functional bioingredients from these microbial resources through biotechnological intervention.

Area of interest :

Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), Bacillus and Yeast - molecular identification and genotyping

Metagenomic approach to study microbial population dynamics in food fermentation

Food borne pathogens – molecular detection, quantification and risk assessment

Starter culture technology for fermented soybean, rice wine, fermented bamboo shoot and fermented fish products development.

Solid State Fermentation (SSF)

Therapeutic enzymes (fibrinolytic) from microbial resources - gene cloning and expression

Selected publications:

• Jeyaram, K., Singh, W. M., Capece, A., Romano, P. 2008. Molecular identification of yeast species associated with ‘Hamei’- a traditional starter used for rice wine production in Manipur, India. International Journal of Food Microbiology.124:115-125.

• Jeyaram, K., Singh, W. M., Premarani, T., Devi, R. A., Chanu, K. S., Talukdar, N. C., Singh, M. R. 2008. Molecular identification of dominant microflora associated with ‘Hawaijar’ – A traditional fermented soybean (Glycine max (L.)) food of Manipur, India. International Journal of Food Microbiology 122: 259-268.

• Jeyaram, K., Romi, W., Singh, T. A., Devi, A. A., Devi, S. S. 2010. Bacterial species associated with traditional starter cultures used for fermented bamboo shoot production in Manipur state of India.  International Journal of Food Microbiology 143:1-8.