rRNA-based monitoring of the microbiota involved in Fontina PDO cheese production in relation to different stages of cow lactation

The aim of the present paper was to investigate the bacterial dynamics during Fontina PDO cheese manufacturing and ripening, in relation to the different lactation stages, in order to evaluate a possible correlation between microbiota and phase of lactation. For this purpose, microbial RNA analysis was carried out by RT-PCR coupled with DGGE and high-throughput sequencing. A good performance of the starter cultures was highlighted throughout Fontina PDO manufacturing and ripening; in fact, the starter prevailed against the autochthonous microbiota. Thus, the microbial activity, which was supposed to affect the final quality of Fontina PDO cheese, appeared to be strictly associated to the presence of the starter, which did not show any difference in its performance according to the different stages of cow lactation. Therefore, the results of this research highlighted a negligible correlation between the microbiota of raw milk and the organoleptic quality and typicity of Fontina cheese in relation to lactation seasonality.