Short communicationFungal diversity of “Tomme d'Orchies” cheese during the ripening process as revealed by a metagenomic study

- Analysis of the fungal microbiota of the “Tomme d'Orchies”, a French artisanal cheese
- The Illumina technology was used to determine the fungal microbiota by metagenomics analysis.
- The fungal microbiota reveal an unusual proportion of various yeast species during cheese ripening.
- High proportion of the fungal population were not originate from the starter culture.
- The yeast Yarrowia lipolytica was dominant in the fungal microbiota.

Tomme d'Orchies is an artisanal pressed and uncooked cheese produced and marketed in the north of France. This study aimed at showing the fungal microbiota evolution of this cheese using a metagenetic based Illumina technology targeting the ITS2 domain of 5.8S fungal rDNAs. To this end, samples were taken from the rind and the core of different cheeses, after 0, 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 days of ripening. The data underpinned the prevalence of Yarrowia lipolytica and Galactomyces geotrichum for both microbiotas. Unusual species including Clavispora lusitaniae, Kazachstania unispora and Cladosporium cladosporioides were also detected, but their origins remain to be ascertained. The metagenomic revealed also the presence of Kluyveromyces and Debaryomyces species.