AUTHOR=Martin José Guilherme Prado , Silva João Marcos Maia , César Isabel Cristina da Rocha , da Silva Meiriele , Santana Samara Aparecida , Veloso Tomás Gomes Reis , Silva Jonas Guimarães e , Ferreira Celia Lucia de Luces Fortes , Leech John , Cotter Paul D. TITLE=Seasonal variation in the Canastra cheese mycobiota JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1076672 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1076672 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
Canastra cheese is the most well-known artisanal cheese produced in Brazil. Although its production includes a step to remove fungi from the cheese surface, in recent years some cheesemakers have preserved the autochthonous fungi grown during ripening due to an interest in the sensory characteristics attributed to these microorganisms. In this work, the mycobiota of artisanal cheeses produced in the Canastra region was characterized based on ITS marker gene analysis. A total of 96 artisanal cheeses from 16 different farms across 9 cities were collected during two different periods (dry and wet seasons). The Canastra cheese mycobiota was significantly impacted by the season, the city of production and the farm but altitude did not affect the fungal community of the cheeses analyzed.