Bacterial Succession through the Artisanal Process and Seasonal Effects Defining Bacterial Communities of Raw-Milk Adobera Cheese Revealed by High Throughput DNA Sequencing

Abstract

The bacterial community of the artisanal Adobera cheese from Los Altos de Jalisco was described through high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene libraries. Samples were collected in two different seasons (dry and rainy) during four key steps of the manufacturing process (raw milk, fresh curd, matured curd, and cheese). Bacterial diversity was higher in early steps in comparison with the final elaboration stages. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most abundant phyla, strongly represented by the <i>Streptococcaceae</i>, <i>Enterobacteriaceae</i> and <i>Lactobacillaceae</i> families, and core bacteria genera such as <i>Streptococcus</i> spp., <i>Lactococcus</i> spp., and <i>Lactobacillus</i> spp. Undesirable bacteria, including <i>Pseudomonas</i> spp. and <i>Acinetobacter</i> spp., were also detected in raw milk but almost undetectable at the end of the cheese manufacturing process, and seemed to be displaced by lactic-acid bacteria-related genera. Seasonal effects were observed on the community structure but did not define the core microbiota composition. Predictive metabolism was related to membrane transport, and amino-acid, lipid, and carbohydrate metabolism pathways. Our results contribute to deduce the role of bacteria involved in Adobera cheese manufacturing in terms of the metabolism involved, cheese microbial safety, and how undesirable bacterial populations could be regulated by process standardization as a potential tool to improve safety.