Cheesomics: the future pathway to understanding cheese flavour and quality

Area of Science:

• Food Microbiology
• Fermentation Science
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Cheese microbiota significantly impacts flavor, quality, and safety.
• Traditional culture-dependent methods offer limited insights into microbial diversity.
• Next-generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics have revolutionized cheese microbiome studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the application of meta-omics technologies in understanding cheese microbiota.
• To highlight the potential of integrating multi-omics data (cheesomics) for advancing cheese science.
• To identify opportunities for predicting cheese characteristics and discovering bioactive metabolites.

Main Methods:

• Review of studies utilizing rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics, and metabolomics.
• Analysis of microbial composition and functionality in cheese.
• Integration of data from diverse multi-omics platforms.

Main Results:

• Meta-omics technologies provide deeper insights into cheese microbial communities than traditional methods.
• These technologies reveal the complex roles of microorganisms in cheese ripening.
• The review identifies potential applications for cheesomics in predicting cheese properties.

Conclusions:

• Meta-omics approaches are essential for a comprehensive understanding of cheese microbial ecosystems.
• Integrating multi-omics data (cheesomics) holds significant promise for cheese research and development.
• Future research can leverage cheesomics to identify biomarkers for cheese quality and health-promoting compounds.