Massive sequencing of artisan cheeses from raw sheep’s milk

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are used in the food industry to confer aromatic characteristics and their antibacterial capacity. In this study the native flora of LAB that participates in the traditional fermentation of semi-hard cheeses made with raw sheep's milk from the region of Andalusia, Spain was analyzed. Three samples of four different commercial cheeses were taken. Massive sequencing was carried out to identify the lactic and accompanying flora. Predominant lactic flora was Lactococcus lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactococcus raffinolactis, and to a lesser extent other species of the genera Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Pediococcus and Leuconestoc. The accompanying flora was composed of species of the genera Mycoplasma, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Chryseobacterium, Mannheimia, Trueperella, Enterococcus, Vibrio, Serratia, Macrococcus, Staphylococcus, Massilia, Flavobacterium, Yersinia, Gallaecimonas, Hafnia, Leclercia, Obesumbacterium, Morganella and Kluyvera. These results show that modern molecular techniques are very good tools to identify natural LABs of artisanal dairy products. The characterization of the native flora of the artisanal cheese allows us to evaluate the microbiological diversity of the natural population of LAB and the symbiosis with another type of flora.