AUTHOR=Sessou Philippe , Keisam Santosh , Tuikhar Ngangyola , Gagara Mariama , Farougou Souaïbou , Jeyaram Kumaraswamy 

TITLE=High-Throughput Illumina MiSeq Amplicon Sequencing of Yeast Communities Associated With Indigenous Dairy Products From Republics of Benin and Niger

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00594

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.00594

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Traditional <italic>Wagashi</italic> cheese and fermented cow milk are among the most popular dairy products appreciated by people from Benin, Niger, and the neighboring region. These products are the main source of protein in the diet of the low-income population in the region. The fermented milk is prepared by spontaneous fermentation without back-slopping. Whereas, the leaf extract of <italic>Calotropis procera</italic> is used for curdling the milk to prepare the soft <italic>Wagashi</italic> cheese. The present study aims to provide in-depth analysis of yeast communities associated with these traditional milk products by high-throughput Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of fungal rRNA genes. A total of 60 samples, 20 samples of fermented milk each from Benin and Niger, and 20 samples of <italic>Wagashi</italic> cheese from Benin were used for analysis. The metagenomic investigation revealed that <italic>Kluyveromyces marxianus</italic>, <italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</italic>, <italic>Candida parapsilosis</italic>, and <italic>Sagenomella keratitidis</italic> were the predominant yeast species present in the traditional milk products. Furthermore, we noticed a high presence of <italic>K. marxianus</italic> (61.1% relative abundance) in the <italic>Wagashi</italic> cheese and <italic>S. cerevisiae</italic> (28.4% relative abundance) in the fermented milk of Niger. The presence of potential pathogenic yeast <italic>C. parapsilosis</italic> and <italic>S. keratitidis</italic> in these African milk products calls for further investigation to assess their safety. The predominant yeast <italic>K. marxianus</italic> and <italic>S. cerevisiae</italic>, recognized with generally regarded as safe (GRAS) status, could be further selected as starter culture along with lactic acid bacteria for developing controlled fermentation processes with enhanced product quality and safety.</p>