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Metagenomic Analysis of Koumiss 

in Kazakhstan  

 

Samat Kozhakhmetov1, Indira 

Tynybayeva1, Dinara 

Baikhanova2, Saule 

Saduakhasova1, Gulnar 

Shakhabayeva1, Almagul 

Kushugulova1, Talgat Nurgozhin1, 

Zhaxybay Zhumadilov1 

 
1Center for Life Sciences, Nazarbayev 
University, Astana, Kazakhstan; 
2Eurasian National University, Astana, 
Kazakhstan 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vol. 3, Suppl. (2014)   |   ISSN 2166-7403 (online)    

DOI 10.5195/cajgh.2014.163   |   http://cajgh.pitt.edu 

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KOZHAKHMETOV 

 

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 United States License. 

 

This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part  

of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. 

 

Central Asian Journal of Global Health 

Volume 3, Suppl. (2014)  |  ISSN 2166-7403 (online)  |  DOI 10.5195/cajgh.2014.163  |  http://cajgh.pitt.edu 

  

 

Abstract 

Introduction. Koumiss is a low-alcohol product made from fermented mare's milk, which is popular in Kazakhstan, Russia, and 

other countries of Central Asia, China, and Mongolia. Natural mare's milk is fermented in symbiosis of two types of microorganisms 

(lactobacteria and yeast). Koumiss’s microbial composition varies depending on the geographical, climatic, and cultural conditions. 

Based on a phenotypic characteristic from samples, Wu, R. and colleagues identified the following bacteria isolated in inner 

Mongolia, an autonomous region of China: L.casei, L.helveticus, L.plantarum, L.coryniformis subsp. coryniformis, L.paracasei, 

L.kefiranofaciens, L.curvatus, L.fermentum, and W.kandleri. Studies of the yeast composition in koumiss also showed significant 

variations. Thus, there were Saccharomyces unisporus related 48.3% of isolates, to Kluyveromyces marxianus (27.6%), Pichia 

membranaefaciens (15.0%), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (9.2%) from 87 isolated yeast cultures. The purpose of this study was 

to examine the bacterial composition in koumiss. 

Methods. To extract DNA, 1.8 ml of fermented milk was centrifuged to generate a pellet, which was suspended in 450 µl of lysis 

buffer P1 from the Powerfood Microbial DNA Isolation kit (MoBio Laboratories Inc, USA). Amplification of the microflora was 

used to determine the composition of a fragment of the gene 16S rRNA and ITS1. Plasmid library with target insertion was obtained 

on the basis of height copy plasmid vectors producing high pGem-T. The definition of direct nucleotide sequencing was performed 

by the method of Sanger using a set of "BigDye Terminanor v 3.1 Cycle sequencing Kit with automatic genetic analyzer ABI 

3730xl  (Applied Biosystems, USA).  Informax Vector NTI Suite 9, Sequence Scanner v 1.0  software package used for the analysis. 

Results. Our studies showed that in the most samples of koumiss isolated from Akmola region (Central Kazakhstan) prevailed the 

following bacteria species: Lactobacillus diolivorans, Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. casei, L. curvatus  yeast genus Torula (62.4%) 

and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (37.6%). 

Conclusion. Thus, the first metagenomic research of koumiss, which was conducted in Kazakhstan, showed significant variations 

in microbial composition. 

Keywords: fermentation, lactobacteria, DNA sequencing, Kazakhstan 

 

 

 

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