Abstract:
The microorganisms that inhabit cheese contribute
greatly to the flavor and development of the final
product. While the rind and curd microbiota have been
characterized separately, there is limited information on
how the structure and function of microbial communities
in rinds and curds vary within and amongst cheeses. To
better understand the differences in community structure
and function between communities of cheese rinds
and curds, we combined culture-based methods with
culture-independent community profiling of curds and
rinds. Rinds contained greater taxonomic diversity than
curds. Lactobacillales dominated curd communities while
members from the order Actinomycetales were found
in high abundance in rind communities. Communities
varied more between rinds and curds than among
cheeses produced from different milk types. To better
understand microbial community functions, we cultured
and assayed isolates for antibiotic susceptibility and
carbon source utilization. Among European and U.S.
cheeses, 70% of all susceptible isolates were cultured
from U.S. cheeses. Overall, our study explored the
differences within and between rind and curd microbial
communities of natural rind cheeses, provided insights
into the environmental factors that shape microbial
communities, and demonstrated that at the community
and isolate level the cheese microbiome was diverse and
metabolically complex.
