Regional variation in bacterial and fungal community composition of traditional Turkish mold-ripened cheeses
International Dairy Journal, cilt.181, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 181
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.idairyj.2026.106718
- Dergi Adı: International Dairy Journal
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, BIOSIS, Compendex, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Engineering Source (EBSCO)
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Bacterial microbiota, Fungal mycobiota, Geographical origin, High-throughput sequencing, Mold-ripened cheese
- Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This study aimed to characterize the bacterial and fungal community structure of Turkish mold-ripened cheeses and to evaluate the influence of geographical origin on microbial diversity. A total of 14 cheeses from 12 provinces across four geographical regions were analyzed using high-throughput 16 S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing, followed by QIIME2-based ASV inference and multivariate diversity analyses. The bacterial microbiota was dominated by Firmicutes (89.6%), with lower contributions from Proteobacteria (5.7%) and Actinobacteriota (3.6%). At the family level, Streptococcaceae (30.1%) and Lactobacillaceae (29.7%) were the most abundant groups. Lactobacillus predominated in civil cheeses from the Eastern Black Sea and Eastern Anatolia regions, exceeding 50% relative abundance in samples from Giresun (65.5%) and Ardahan (53.0%). Streptococcus dominated cheeses from Central Anatolia and parts of the Eastern Black Sea region, reaching 45.1% in Karaman tulum cheese and 45.0% in Artvin civil cheese. The mycobiota was overwhelmingly dominated by Ascomycota (97.7%), primarily driven by the family Aspergillaceae (64.3%). Several civil cheeses showed near monodominance of Penicillium, particularly those from Niğde (100%) and Artvin (98.9%). In contrast, most civil cheeses exhibited yeast-enriched profiles, with Debaryomycetaceae reaching 44.6% in Giresun and 31.9% in Erzurum, and Pichia membranifaciens contributing up to 25.0%. Beta-diversity analyses revealed clear regional separation of bacterial and fungal communities, while alpha-diversity metrics indicated substantial variation in richness and evenness among cheeses. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that geographical origin is a major determinant of microbial community composition in Turkish mold-ripened cheeses, with particularly pronounced effects on the fungal mycobiota.