An Insight into Goat Cheese: The Tales of Artisanal and Industrial Gidotyri Microbiota

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine for the first time the microbiota in artisanal-type and industrial-type Gidotyri cheeses and investigate the influence of the cheese-making practices on their composition using culture-independent techniques. The microbiota present in artisanal with commercial starters (Artisanal_CS, n = 15), artisanal with in-house starters (Artisanal_IHS, n = 10) and industrial (Ind., n = 9) Gidotyri cheese samples were analyzed using a targeted metagenomic approach (16S rRNA gene). The Ind. Gidotyri cheese microbiota were less complex, dominated by the Streptococcaceae family (91%) that was more abundant compared to the artisanal Gidotyri cheeses (p < 0.05). Artisanal cheeses were more diverse compositionally with specific bacterial species being prevalent to each subtype. Particularly, Loigolactobacillus coryniformis (OTU 175), Secundilactobacillus malefermentans (OTU 48), and Streptococcus parauberis (OTU 50) were more prevalent in Artisanal_IHS cheeses compared to Artisanal_CS (p ≤ 0.001) and Ind. (p < 0.01) Gidotyri cheeses. Carnobacterium maltaromaticum (OTU 23) and Enterobacter hormaechei subsp. hoffmannii (OTU 268) were more prevalent in Artisanal_CS cheeses compared to Artisanal_IHS cheeses (p < 0.05) and Ind. cheeses (p < 0.05). Hafnia alvei (OTU 13) and Acinetobacter colistiniresistens (OTU 111) tended to be more prevalent in Artisanal_CS compared to the other two cheese groups (p < 0.10). In conclusion, higher microbial diversity was observed in the artisanal-type Gidotyri cheeses, with possible bacterial markers specific to each subtype identified with potential application to traceability of the manufacturing processes’ authenticity and cheese quality.

Preserving Microbial Biodiversity: The Case of Food-Associated Microorganisms

“…However, their absence has also been reported [28,45,59,69], indicating that these products can be made without their contribution. This seems also to be the case with dairy products [115][116][117].…”

“…However, their absence has also been reported [28,45,59,69], indicating that these products can be made without their contribution. This seems also to be the case with dairy products [115][116][117]. The concept of the microbiome and the distinction between the microorganisms that participate in core and occasional ones also exist in the case of the spoilage microbiota.…”

Antilisterial activity of raw sheep milk from two native Epirus breeds: Culture-dependent identification, bacteriocin gene detection and primary safety evaluation of the antagonistic LAB biota

“…Additional virulence STR genes ( asa1, mrp, sly, bay, bca, speG, scpB, ssa ) were tested for the S. bovis/equinus complex and S. lutetiensis in particular ( Chen et al., 2021 ; Özkan et al., 2021b ); whereas the virulence genes ( sua, pauA, skc, gapC, hasC ) of the S. uberis/parauberis group ( Zhang et al., 2020 ) differ from the Enterococcus -specific virulence genes tested in this study. To our knowledge, no previous culture-dependent studies have reported the presence/prevalence of S. parauberis isolates in Greek raw milk or traditional cheese; however, a recent targeted (16S rRNA) metagenomic study reported the prevalence of S. parauberis (OTU 50) in the microbiota of artisanal Gidotyri cheese ( Nelli et al., 2023 ). Therefore, further studies are needed to assess the biochemical characteristics and virulence potential, as well as the antibiotic resistance, of the present S. parauberis isolates from RM.…”

Investigation of the Microbiome of Industrial PDO Sfela Cheese and Its Artisanal Variants Using 16S rDNA Amplicon Sequencing and Shotgun Metagenomics

“…thermophilus, and Lb. delbrueckii as the three most prevailing species in white brined cheeses [24,26,27]. Leu.…”

“…Both techniques have been previously applied in studies conducted for the characterization of various white brined cheese microbiomes. More specifically, amplicon-based sequencing for the identification of both bacterial and yeasts genera has been employed in the case of various Turkish white cheeses including Tulum and Ezine [24][25][26], Greek artisanal cheeses like Kalathaki Limnou, Gidotyri and Batzos, [27][28][29], Brazilian Minas cheese [30] and the Cypriot cheeses Halloumi and Halitzia [31,32]. Feta, which is the most popular Greek cheese, has been selected as the basis for multiple studies employing amplicon sequencing and/or shotgun metagenomics to explore its microbiome under different technological conditions [33][34][35].…”