Helv4DairHy is focused on the evolutionary history of Lactobacillus helveticus strains in natural whey starters of Parmigiano Reggiano over the past 50 years to exploit their biodiversity for innovative products.
UniBO and UniPR, involved in the project, can rely on a large collection of strains built in 1970 from natural whey starters (NWS) taken in different dairies in the pre-hill area of the province of Reggio Emilia and never revitalized until the last year. This collection can provide a unique insight into the characteristics of strains that will be compared genetically and phenotypically with strains currently present in the same Parmigiano Reggiano processing environments, representative of the current biodiversity of Lactobacillus helveticus in this ecological niche. This project's activities will highlight both genotypic and phenotypic differences in these strains, offering perspective on the adaptation of Lactobacillus helveticus to dynamics due to technological advances in dairy practices or abiotic changes such as exposure to antibiotics.
The study of this evolutionary history provides a starting point for selecting strains for industrial applications and offers a crucial opportunity for identifying candidate starter cultures that support traditional cheese production or for exploiting strains to obtain new products with functionally and qualitatively improved characteristics.
1- To investigate the biodiversity between and within Lactobacillus helveticus isolated in the two different periods, describing genotypic variability associated to NWS of PR environmental niche to assess the phylogenetic distance that characterises the two groups of isolates, allowing dereplication among clonal strains;
2- To evaluate the phenotypic variability among the old and the new strains in terms of their safety (resistance to antibiotics, biogenic amines production), growth performances (i.e. temperature, carbon source) and functional features (i.e. production of antimicrobial compounds such as bacteriocins) in vitro in order to select candidates characterized by the maximum variability and/or relevant features to be studied in further activities;
3- To compare the selected strains at the genome level to highlight the evolution of traits that leverage the adaptation as well as gene related to technological properties such as aroma compound production;
4- Use of in vitro techniques or food models for the screening of pro-technological characteristics to select the best performing strains among the new and old ones able to support traditional cheese manufacturing process;
5- Use of the selected strains to develop pilot scale cheese and fermented milk productions and characterization of product quality and functional aspects to prove the concept of LH strain possible exploitation for traditional and innovative industrial applications.
