Fungal volatiles mediate cheese rind microbiome assembly

Abstract

Summary In vitro studies in plant, soil, and human systems have shown that microbial volatiles can mediate microbe–microbe or microbe–host interactions. These previous studies have often used artificially high concentrations of volatiles compared to in situ systems and have not demonstrated the roles volatiles play in mediating community‐level dynamics. We used the notoriously volatile cheese rind microbiome to identify bacteria responsive to volatiles produced by five widespread cheese fungi. Vibrio casei had the strongest growth stimulation when exposed to all fungi. In multispecies community experiments, fungal volatiles caused a shift to a Vibrio‐dominated community, potentially explaining the widespread occurrence of Vibrio in surface‐ripened cheeses. RNA sequencing identified activation of the glyoxylate shunt as a possible mechanism underlying volatile‐mediated growth promotion and community assembly. Our study demonstrates how airborne chemicals could be used to control the composition of microbiomes and illustrates how volatiles may impact the development of cheese rinds.

Secondary metabolites of Bacillus subtilis impact the assembly of soil-derived semisynthetic bacterial communities

“…Apart from soluble SM, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are as well capable of impacting a microbial community. In 2020, Cosetta et al demonstrated that VOCs of cheese rind-associated fungi have both growth-stimulating and -inhibiting properties on members of the rind microbiome [60]. The authors could reveal that the VOC-mediated shift of the bacterial community was caused due to growth promotion of Vibrio spp.…”

Microbial association networks in cheese: a meta-analysis

“…On the other side of the spectrum, in raw milk cheeses produced with no starter or by using traditional undefined starters, and with longer ripening, a complex pattern of microbial interactions and a succession of species and strains invariably develops and its control is key to cheese quality (Blaya et al, 2017; Gobbetti et al, 2018; Irlinger and Mounier, 2009; Jonnala et al, 2018; Mayo et al, 2021). Microbial successions and interactions are especially complex in surface ripened cheeses (Irlinger and Mounier, 2009), and this has been demonstrated in an elegant and comprehensive way in a series of recent studies (Bonham et al, 2017; Cosetta et al, 2020; Kastman et al, 2016; Niccum et al, 2020; Wolfe et al, 2014; Zhang et al, 2018).…”

“…The collection and interpretation of multi-omic data is probably the most promising approach for the study of microbial interactions in cheese during curd production and ripening, although cost and computational power issues may still limit the collection of large longitudinal data sets needed to use model based approaches for inferring interactions. The most extensive demonstration of the value of complex, integrated approaches, for finely dissecting the complex interactions in cheese microbial communities is probably the on-going work on surface ripened cheeses (Bonham et al, 2017; Cleary et al, 2018; Cosetta and Wolfe, 2020; Cosetta et al, 2020; Kastman et al, 2016; Niccum et al, 2020; Wolfe et al, 2014; Zhang et al, 2018). Starting from an extensive metataxonomic and metagenomic characterization of the rind microbial communities of bloomy surface, washed rind and natural dry rind (Wolfe et al, 2014) from all over the world, and from the development of a detailed set of protocols for dissecting interactions in model cheeses (Cosetta and Wolfe, 2020), this group was able to provide detailed evidence for the drivers which determine the diversity and functionality of microbial communities on the surface of cheeses.…”

Secondary metabolites of Bacillus subtilis impact soil-derived semi-synthetic bacterial community assembly

“…The authors could reveal that the VOC-mediated shift of the bacterial community was caused due to growth promotion of Vibrio spp. [60]. These studies and the results from the semi-synthetic mock community experiment of this study highlight that the overall impact of SMs on the targeted microbial communities is low, which suggest being no mass destruction compounds.…”