Crystalline Surface-Layers of the Genus Lactobacillus

Lactobacilli are fundamental contributors to food technology and agriculture. Moreover, they are thought to induce beneficial effects to public health as valuable inhabitants of the intestinal and urogenital tract of humans. The envelope of these microorganisms could play an important role (i.e., resistance, adhesion, etc.) in all of these applications. The aim of this review is to summarize the available knowledge about S-layer carrying strains of the genus Lactobacillus

The Oxford Companion to Cheese

The Oxford Companion to CheeseEditor-in-chief Dr. Catherine Donnelly and Foreword by Mateo Kehler 855 entries on all aspects of cheese - historical and cultural, scientific, and technical. An astonishing 325 authors, from cheesemakers and cheese retailers to dairy scientists, microbiologists, historians, and anthropologists Every entry is signed by the author, and includes both cross references to related topics and further reading suggestions. A topical outline of entries in the frontmatter and comprehensive index in the backmatter help readers find exactly what they are looking for. Two 16 page color inserts and well over 100 black and white images bring the entries to life The most comprehensive reference work on cheese availablThe discovery of cheese is a narrative at least eight thousand years old, dating back to the Neolithic era. Yet, after all of these thousands of years we are still finding new ways to combine the same four basic ingredients—milk, bacteria, salt, and enzymes—into new and exciting products with vastly different shapes, sizes, and colors, and equally complex and varied tastes, textures, and, yes, aromas. In fact, after a long period of industrialized, processed, and standardized cheese, cheesemakers, cheesemongers, affineurs, and most of all consumers are rediscovering the endless variety of cheeses across cultures. The Oxford Companion to Cheese is the first major reference work dedicated to cheese, containing 855 A–Z entries on cheese history, culture, science, and production. From cottage cheese to Camembert, from Gorgonzola to Gruyère, there are entries on all of the major cheese varieties globally, but also many cheeses that are not well known outside of their region of production. The concentrated whey cheeses popular in Norway, brunost, are covered here, as are the traditional Turkish and Iranian cheeses that are ripened in casings prepared from sheep’s or goat’s skin.There are entries on animal species whose milk is commonly (cow, goat, and sheep) and not so commonly (yak, camel, andreindeer) used in cheesemaking, as well as entries on a few highly important breeds within each species, such as the Nubian goat or the Holstein cow. Regional entries on places with a strong historyof cheese production, biographies of influential cheesemakers, innovative and influential cheese shops, and historical and cultural entries on topics like manorial cheesemaking and cheese in children’s literature round out the Companion’s eclectic coverag

EMbaRC - A European Consortium of Microbial Resource Centres for Science & lnnovation

EMbaRC is an EU project funded under the Seventh Framework Programme, Research lnfrastructures action. lt aims to improve, coordinate and validate microbial Biological Resource Centres (BRC) delivery to European and lnternational researchers from both public and private sectors. Apart from the networking and research activities, EMbaRC offers EU-supported grants for Trans-national Access opportunities. Scientists who carry out research in Europe or Associated Countries can use EMbaRC infrastructures to support part of their research project. ln this presentation, the main achievements of the first year will be summarized. Networking activities allow i) an estimation of overlapping/uniqueness between the consortium holdings, ii) a deep analysis of strain deposit after publication, iii) a review of the training offered by the consortium in the collection management and associated tools (identification, data management, etc.), iv) an harmonisation of the quality manual, v) a first draft for a biosecurity code, and vi) establish the basis of a common strategy to increase the sustainability of BRCs. Joint Research activities focused in particular on storage of recalcitrant strains, DNA storage and species identification by new methods like mass spectrometry ... ln parallel, success stories are being gathered to support the idea that microbial collections contribute to the bioeconomy. Such achievements can be a way to increase the sustainability of collections, and some of them will be presented

Grants for trans-national access to leading European Microbial Biological Resource Centres (BRCs) - EMbaRC training and outreach programme

The EMbaRC Training and Outreach Programme (TOP) is an opportunity for scientists to stay atone of the EMbaRC centres to benefit from expert advice and to use advanced equipment to support part of their research project. EMbaRC will cover the bench fees, travel and subsistence costs. This unique opportunity for training in collection management, identification of bacteria and fungi by stateof-the-art techniques or phenotypic screening of a collection of strains is organised with the support of the Seventh Framework Programme, Research lnfrastructures Action

European Consortium of Microbial Resources Centres (EMbaRC): Secure the future of microbial resources at laboratory scale

[Excerpt] EMbaRC is an EU project which aims to improve, coordinate and validate microbial resource centre (MRC) delivery to the European and International researchers. To ensure harmonisation of the quality of MRCs, EMbaRC plans to take the current OECD best practice guidelines and emerging national standards for Biological Resource Centres (BRCs) to the international level. Outreach and training activities will ensure that not only the consortium but that all European collections operate to the standards required to deliver products and services of consistent quality thus meeting customer needs. A one-stop access to the collections of EMbaRC and the wider European BRC community via a searchable web portal building on the outcomes of the CABRI and EBRCN is being developed. (...

EMbaRC: designing training and e-learning materials for biological resource centres

The European Consortium of Microbial Resource Centres (EMbaRC, www.embarc.eu) is a research infrastructure project gathering together major microbial Biological Resource Centres (BRCs) in Europe. These culture collections have a long and respected tradition in training people that are involved in microbial taxonomy, preservation and management. Advanced and bespoke courses on related topics add high value to the European educational community and create a knowledge-based training network. Under the framework of EMbaRC, the training programmes offered by the consortium were surveyed and schemes were proposed to establish an educational community to create a knowledge-based training network. This would implement lifelong educational and continuing professional development (CPD) schemes for those working within microbial resource centres (MiRC). In parallel, a European Masters Course on MiRC was designed to address the formal education path for strengthening competences in (1) Microbial Preservation Technologies, (2) MiRC: Organisation and Management, (3) QC Standards and International Regulations, (4) Microbial Biosafety and Biosecurity, and (5) IT Technologies and Database Management. Finally, to support these actions, materials for e-learning activities were developed such as videos related to microbial preservation techniques, the Gram-staining technique and, preparing microscopic slides of fungi. All activities developed under this EMbaRC task will support the MIRRI and other EU ESFRI-BMS and EMTRAIN projects

The Complete Genome of Propionibacterium freudenreichii CIRM-BIA1T, a Hardy Actinobacterium with Food and Probiotic Applications

Background: Propionibacterium freudenreichii is essential as a ripening culture in Swiss-type cheeses and is also considered for its probiotic use [1]. This species exhibits slow growth, low nutritional requirements, and hardiness in many habitats. It belongs to the taxonomic group of dairy propionibacteria, in contrast to the cutaneous species P. acnes. The genome of the type strain, P. freudenreichii subsp. shermanii CIRM-BIA1 (CIP 103027T), was sequenced with an 11-fold coverage. Methodology/Principal Findings: The circular chromosome of 2.7 Mb of the CIRM-BIA1 strain has a GC-content of 67% and contains 22 different insertion sequences (3.5% of the genome in base pairs). Using a proteomic approach, 490 of the 2439 predicted proteins were confirmed. The annotation revealed the genetic basis for the hardiness of P. freudenreichii, as the bacterium possesses a complete enzymatic arsenal for de novo biosynthesis of aminoacids and vitamins (except panthotenate and biotin) as well as sequences involved in metabolism of various carbon sources, immunity against phages, duplicated chaperone genes and, interestingly, genes involved in the management of polyphosphate, glycogen and trehalose storage. The complete biosynthesis pathway for a bifidogenic compound is described, as well as a high number of surface proteins involved in interactions with the host and present in other probiotic bacteria. By comparative genomics, no pathogenicity factors found in P. acnes or in other pathogenic microbial species were identified in P. freudenreichii, which is consistent with the Generally Recognized As Safe and Qualified Presumption of Safety status of P. freudenreichii. Various pathways for formation of cheese flavor compounds were identified: the Wood-Werkman cycle for propionic acid formation, amino acid degradation pathways resulting in the formation of volatile branched chain fatty acids, and esterases involved in the formation of free fatty acids and esters. Conclusions/Significance: With the exception of its ability to degrade lactose, P. freudenreichii seems poorly adapted to dairy niches. This genome annotation opens up new prospects for the understanding of the P. freudenreichii probiotic activity