<xhtml:span xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">Molecular phylogeny of 16S rRNA sequences from Ugba&#160; ( Pentaclethra macrophylla) seeds </xhtml:span>

The evolutionary analysis of bacteria species harbouring 16S rRNA sequences detected in the oil bean seeds of Ugba (Pentaclethra macrophylla) was carried out. The food product has a high socio-economic relevance to communities where they are consumed. Species such as Kurthia gibsonii, Stenotrophomonas geniculata, and Alcaligenes nematophilus found in Ugba may have occurred in the environment and entered the sample in the field during or before harvest. The phylogenetic analysis of 35 sequences showed that some strains of the same species resolved into different monophyletic groups, suggesting species divergence or distinct evolutionary lineages. The species Kurthia gibsonii was found to be the earliest ancestor following sequence-based ancestral analysis, suggesting that it was present in the analysed samples before other bacteria. The Ugba seeds appear to harbour a diverse group of bacteria and will benefit from metagenomic investigations as well as studies of the mechanism of survival and succession to reveal the true nature of the resident flora. This will help safeguard public health and highlight the organism’s relevance to food safety surveillance and microbial evolution. Increased knowledge of the resident organisms will also lead to the improvement of fermentation techniques and enhance the quality of the final product.