Functional diversity within the Penicillium roqueforti species

Independent domestication events in the blue-cheese fungusPenicillium roqueforti

“…We then assessed lipolytic and proteolytic activities in the P. roqueforti populations. These activities are important for energy and nutrient uptake, as well as for cheese texture and the production of volatile compounds responsible for cheese flavors (Gillot et al, 2017; McSweeney, 2004). Lipolysis was faster in the non-Roquefort cheese population than in the Roquefort and silage/food spoiling populations (Fig.…”

“…Volatile production assays were performed on 16 Roquefort strains and 19 non-Roquefort cheese strains grown on model cheeses as previously described (Gillot et al, 2017). Briefly, model cheeses were prepared in Petri dishes and incubated for 14 days at 25 °C before removing three 10 mm-diameter plugs (equivalent to approximately 1 g).…”

“…Briefly, model cheeses were prepared in Petri dishes and incubated for 14 days at 25 °C before removing three 10 mm-diameter plugs (equivalent to approximately 1 g). The plugs were then placed into 22 mL Perkin Elmer vials that were tightly closed with polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE)/silicone septa and stored at −80°C prior to analyses (Gillot et al, 2017). Analyses and data processing were carried out by headspace trap-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-trap-GC-MS) using a Perkin Elmer turbomatrix HS-40 trap sampler, a Clarus 680 gas chromatograph coupled to a Clarus 600T quadrupole MS (Perkin Elmer, Courtaboeuf, France), and the open source XCMS package of the R software (http://www.r-project.org/), respectively, as previously described (Pogačić et al, 2015).…”

“…The existence of further genetic subdivision separating populations according to the original environment, or protected designation of origin (PDO) for cheese strains has been suggested, but, because it was based only on a few microsatellite markers, the resolution power was low (Gillot et al, 2015; Ropars et al, 2014, 2017). Secondary metabolite production (aroma compounds and mycotoxins) and proteolysis activity have been shown to differ between strains from different PDOs (Gillot et al, 2017). A high-quality P. roqueforti genome reference is available (Cheeseman et al, 2014), allowing more powerful analyses based on population genomics.…”

Domestication of the emblematic white cheese-making fungusPenicillium camembertiand its diversification into two varieties

“…roqueforti, strains belonging to the non-Roquefort population were also found unable to produce mycophenolic acid due to a 174 bp deletion in the mpaC gene [51].…”