16S RRNA-BASED METAGENOMIC ANALYSIS OF BEESWAX-COATED SABA BANANA (MUSA × PARADISIACA) PSEUDOSTEM

• Main Author: Sherline
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/76109
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

<p align="justify">Bananas are one of the most popular fruits, ranked second as the most produced fruit in the world. One of the problems arising from the banana production process is the high amount of agriculture waste. Banana pseudostems, as a by-product in the banana industry, are interesting to use as a biodegradable and renewable food packaging, replacing synthetic disposable food packaging. However, as a natural fiber, banana pseudostems have an ideal surface for microbial growth and have the possibility to cause pathogenic bacteria infection. One of the methods to prevent this from happening is beeswax coating, which has also become popular lately. Beeswax has been reported to have antimicrobial and hydrophobic properties, as well as other physicochemical properties that are thought to affect microbial communities in banana pseudostems. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effect of beeswax coating on the microbial communities in banana pseudostems. The analysis of microbial community is done through metagenomics approach that targets the 16S rRNA gene of Saba banana (Musa × paradisiaca) pseudostem that was given beeswax coating and no beeswax coating. Bioinformatics analysis was performed using NanoPlot for sequence statistics visualization, Centrifuge for reads classification, KronaTools for relative abundance visualization, and RStudio for diversity estimation and microbial community similarity visualization. The results show that the microbial communities are dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Firmicutes in all samples. The abundance phylum Proteobacteria decreases with beeswax coating, while the phyla Cyanobacteria and Firmicutes increases. The dominant species found in uncoated banana pseudostem are Pantoea sp. At-9b, Escherichia coli, Synechococcus sp. JA-3-3-Ab, Pantoea vagans, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The dominant species found in beeswax-coated banana pseudostem are Synechococcus sp. JA-3-3-Ab, Pseudanabaena sp. PCC 7367, Chroococcidiopsis thermalis, Priestia megaterium, and Ammonifex degensii. The Chao1, Shannon, Simpson, and Equitability indices show that the species richness, diversity, and evenness in the uncoated banana pseudostem are found higher than the beeswax-coated banana pseudostem. The similarity of bacterial communities in uncoated banana pseudostem and beeswax-coated banana pseudostem reaches 53,9%.