Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2015, 12, 10171-10197; doi:10.3390/ijerph120810171 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ISSN 1660-4601 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph Article Characterization of the Bacterial Community Naturally Present on Commercially Grown Basil Leaves: Evaluation of Sample Preparation Prior to Culture-Independent Techniques Siele Ceuppens 1, Stefanie Delbeke 1, Dieter De Coninck 2, Jolien Boussemaere 1, Nico Boon 3 and Mieke Uyttendaele 1,* 1 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Food Preservation (LFMFP), Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium; E-Mails:
[email protected] (S.C.);
[email protected] (S.D.);
[email protected] (J.B.) 2 Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutics, Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (LabFBT), Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Department of Biochemical and Microbial Technology, Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +32-92-646-178; Fax: +32-92-255-510. Academic Editor: Paul B. Tchounwou Received: 7 July 2015 / Accepted: 19 August 2015 / Published: 21 August 2015 Abstract: Fresh herbs such as basil constitute an important food commodity worldwide. Basil provides considerable culinary and health benefits, but has also been implicated in foodborne illnesses. The naturally occurring bacterial community on basil leaves is currently unknown, so the epiphytic bacterial community was investigated using the culture-independent techniques denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and next-generation sequencing (NGS).