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Editorialoverview:Foodmicrobiology:thecomplexity
offoodmicrobialconsortia:fromdiversitytofunction
MarcoGobbetti http://crossmark.cross
CurrentOpinioninFoodScience 2015,:iv
2 v

ForacompleteoverviewseetheIssue

Availableonline23rdMarch2015

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2015.03.005

2214-7993/# 2015ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.

MarcoGobbetti Foodprocessingisoneofthemostclassicalandancientexamplesof
biotechnology,whichdatesasfarbackas6000BC.Statingthatfoods,
especiallythosefermented,aredenselypopulatedofmicrobesandthat
microbesstrictlyinteracteachother,mostlyformingwell-structuredcon-
sortia,thediversityandmetabolicoutputoftheseconsortiaisunavoidably
functionaltofoodprocessing,andfoodshelflife,avorandnutritionalvalue.
Foods,andtheresultingdiet,alsoimpactthecompositionoftheequally
complexhumanintestinalmicrobiota.Overall,microbialconsortiacarryout
morecomplexactivities(versatility)andtoleratemorevariationsfromthe
environment(robustness)ascomparedtopurecultures.Insuchcomplex
DepartmentofSoil,PlantandFoodSciences,
UniversityofBariAldoMoro,Italy consortia,thephysiology,behaviorandtnessofthemicrobesareinterde-
e-mail:marco.gobbetti@uniba.it pendent,andassume,inasortoflerouge,afundamentalimportanceto
optimizetheiruseandtopreventcontaminationforimprovingtheoverall
MarcoGobbetti wasbornonMarch01, foodquality.
1960inPerugia(Italy).Since2000heisfull
professorattheDepartmentofSoil,Plant Thisfoodsciencespecialissuefocusesmicrobesontheircomplexand
andFoodSciences,AldoMoroUniversityof
Bari,Italy.Hehadandhasseveral interactivecommunities.Theeightcontributionsbrieyreviewthecurrent
institutionalresponsibilities.Hehasspoken statusonhowtomethodologicallyzoomthemicrobialdiversity,andonhow
at24internationalconferencesperyear.He
microbesadapttosub-optimalenvironments,communicateandantagonize
hasbenmroftgiz eachother,highlightingtheformationandfunctionalityofbiolms.The
ngad/or
scientfomvar activityofnaturalandselectedstartersforsomeofthemainfoodfermenta-
usInteraiol tionsisalsodescribedaswellasthelacticacidbacteriametabolismis
Confercs.HiAatEd
itorf revisited.Theseoverallviewsarecompletedwiththemainimpactofthe
variousIntelj dietonanothercomplexconsortiasuchasthehumanintestinalmicrobiota.
sdealingwth
fodmicrblgy.HesEt
anduthorf
fournatilde Foodmicrobialconsortiaareverycomplex,andtodescribetheirdiversity,
lboks.A whichisfunctionalforimprovingfoodprocessing,giantstepshavebeen
shownbytelikp:/ca
r.goleit/ madeconcerningmethodologiesandtechniquesforinvestigation.Cocolin
citaons?uer=SKYwAJ andErcolinidescribehowtheculture-independentanalysishaverevolu-
&hl=it,es http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2015.01.003
authorfmen360pblic tionizedthestudyofthefoodmicrobiota,leadingtowhatcouldbedened
ions,whc asaculturalevolution.Thecurrentmolecularbiologytools,including
recivdmothan90
ns.The sequencing-basedapproachesandmeta-omicstechniques,havelledsome
indexofthalscpr ofthemaingaps,allowingamorerenedknowledgeofdynamicmicrobial
oductins
52.ISWebofcinlstd7 processes,suchasfoodfermentationsandfoodspoilage.Thisshouldbe
ofthe extremelyperformantforfoodindustriestooptimizethemicrobialactivities
abovepulictns,wh
bencitd andtoreducewastes.
651times,whanvrgof2
.49citaon/
publicatondhexf4.Hsmrvygw,jE Iftheavailabilityofperformingtechniquestostudyfoodmicrobialconsortia
istherstandessentialstep,toknowhowmicrobesadapttoadiversityof
foodnichesistheotherconnectedstep.Papadimitriou etal .reviewhow
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2015.01.0
microbialconsortiaco-evolveduringadaptationtofermentedfoods,showing
thatadaptationisaccompaniedbygenelossandgaineventstomainly

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improvethefermentationcapacity.Meta-omicsstudies
allowtoshedlightintheecologyandadaptationofmicro-
bialcommunities,whichsociallyandtechnologically
offergreatadvantages.Sociallyspeaking,themicrobe-
microbeinteractionsaremediatedthroughavarietyof
molecularandphysiologicalmechanisms,whicharealso
nalizedtosharethelaborbetweenmembersofthe
consortium.RulandMonnetreviewthesignalingmole-
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2015.03.003
culesandthequorumsensingmechanisms,whichare
usefultocommunicatebetweenmicrobes.Eventhephys-
icochemicalcomplexityoffoodmatricesandthediversity
ofmicrobialconsortia,theunderstandingofthequorum
sensingmechanismsinfoodsishelpfultodevelopand
designthehealthierandmoreappreciatedfoods.Inthis
context,thepotentialofquorumsensinginhibitorsderived
fromplantsshouldbefullyexploited.Microbesadaptand
interact,andwithininteractionstheantagonismisbasedon
severalmechanisms,beingthesynthesisofbacteriocins
oneofthemostrelevantandattractive.OConnor etal .,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2015.01.004
therefore,describethemicrobialantagonismagainstfood
pathogensfromabacteriocinperspective.Bacterialge-
nomesequences,silicogeneminingtools,syntheticbiolo-
gyandbioengineeringbasedapproachesareallowingto
harnessexistingandnovelbacteriocingeneclusters
throughexpressionindifferenthostsandbyenhancing
functionalities.Thispotentialshouldbecomeparticularly
attractiveforprobioticculturesand,moreingeneral,for
lacticacidbacteriatoincreasethecommercializationof
bacteriocinsinfoodsystems.Microbialbiolmsarethe
mostelegantformofmicrobialconsortiainfoods,which
enhancesurvival,reproductionandcontaminationofnew
surfaces.WhiteheadandVerranreviewtheenvironmental
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2015.02.003 interactionsofthehumanintestinalmicrobiotawithdiet,
conditionsandmicroorganismsthathaveaneffectonthe
formation,architectureandfunctionalityofmicrobialbio-
lms.Althoughbiolmsmayrefertodifferentformsof
microbialandorganicmaterialconsortia,eachfoodproces-
singenvironmenthasspeciccontributingfactors,thus
determiningadiversityofthesesophisticatedsystems.
Lacticacidbacteriaarethemostwidelymicrobialgroup
usedinfoodindustry.Sensoryproperties,shelflife,and
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Editorialoverview Gobbettiv
safetyofthemajorityoffermentedfoodsareimposed
throughtheirmetabolicactivities.Ga®nzlerevisitsthemajor
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2
metabolicroutes(e.g.,carbohydrates,organicacids,amino
acids)oflacticacidbacteria,showinghowenvironmental
conditionsandmanipulationareessentialdeterminantsfor
controllingfoodfermentations.Genomicanalysesoflactic
acidbacteriahaveallowedelucidationofseveralnovel
metabolicpathwaysbutadditionalpracticalinformation
remaintobeelucidatedforthosepathwaysthatmakeonly
minorcontributionstotheoverallmetabolicuxbut
markedlyimpactontheoverallfoodquality.Futuredevel-
opmentanddiversicationofstarterculturesforfoodfer-
mentationsareexpected,basedonthegrowingscientic
knowledgeofthebehaviorofcomplexcommunities.Bassi
etal .comparenaturalandselectedstarterculturesforsomeof
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2015.03.002
themainfoodfermentationssuchasmeatandcheese.
Signicantadvantagesarefoundusingselectedstartercul-
turesintermsofacidicationandsensoryfeaturesaswellas
forcontrollingundesiredmicroorganisms.Nevertheless,also
fromthisperspectiveamoreindepthknowledgeofthe
ecologicalinteractionsbetweenintroducedstrainsandau-
tochthonousmicrobialcommunitiesshouldbewarranted.
Food,ascomponentofthehumandailydiet,have,in
turn,amarketrepercussiononthehumanintestinal
microbiota.Bacterialcommunitiescolonizingthehuman
gutsynthesizeanarrayofmetabolitesandsignaling
moleculesthatimpactonhostintestinalandextra-intes-
tinalhealth.ThisconcludingaspectisreviewedbyTan
andOToole,whoshowhowdietaryhabitsandmicrobial
metaboliteshavefeedbacksonthecompositionofthegut
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2015.01.005
microbiota.Newtechniquessuchasshot-gunsequencing
arenowwellestablishedandwidelyusedinanalyzingthe
environmentanddisease.
Theinspiringreviewsofthisspecialissuecriticallyde-
scribethesuccessfulprogresstodate,andshouldrepre-
sentthestateoftheartforallfoodresearcherstoengage
inthevisionsofthefoodmicrobialconsortiaofferedbyall
theauthors.
CurrentOpinioninFoodScience 2015,:iv
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