Highlighting the microbial diversity of 12 French cheese varieties

Eric Dugat-Bony (1) , Lucille Garnier (2, 1, 3) , Jeremie Denonfoux (4) , Stéphanie Ferreira (4) , Anne-Sophie Sarthou (1) , Pascal Bonnarme (1) , Francoise Irlinger (1)

1 GMPA - Génie et Microbiologie des Procédés Alimentaires
2 STLO - Science et Technologie du Lait et de l'Oeuf
3 LUBEM - Laboratoire Universitaire de Biodiversité et Ecologie Microbienne
4 Genoscreen

Surface-ripened cheeses host complex microbial communities responsible for the transformation of milk into cheese as well as the development of important properties in terms of texture, color and sensory perception. In this study, we used high-throughput amplicon sequencing to decipher the bacterial and fungal diversity of 60 cheeses belonging to 12 popular French cheese varieties. Using this approach, 76 bacterial and 44 fungal phylotypes were identified. Major differences were observed between rind and core samples and also according to cheese varieties and manufacturing processes. Occurrence analysis revealed the presence of widespread taxa as well as operational taxonomic units (OTUs) specific to one or several cheese varieties. Finally, we observed patterns specific to the cheese production facility, supporting the importance of indigenous microorganisms for the microbial assemblage of cheese microbiota.

Mots clés: Amplicon sequencing; Microbial diversity; Cheese

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Eric Dugat-Bony, Lucille Garnier, Jeremie Denonfoux, Stéphanie Ferreira, Anne-Sophie Sarthou, et al.. Highlighting the microbial diversity of 12 French cheese varieties. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 2016, 238, pp.265-273. ⟨10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2016.09.026⟩. ⟨hal-01389685⟩