title: Penicillium salamii, a new species occurring during seasoning of dry-cured meat.
abstract: Fungi have an important role in the production of dry-cured meat products, especially during the seasoning period. In general, both industrially and handmade salami are quickly colonized by a composite mycobiota during seasoning, often with a strong predominance of Penicillium species. These species are involved in the improvement of the characteristics and taste, and in the prevention of the growth of pathogenic, toxigenic or spoilage fungi. During the survey of fungal species occurring on the salami surface and in the air of the seasoning and storage areas of a salami plant (Calabria, Italy), two Penicillium species were predominantly present. One species was identified as Penicillium nalgiovense, and the other was related to, but distinct from, Penicillium olsonii. Further molecular and biochemical analyses showed that this strain has high homology with the not yet described species named "Penicillium milanense" isolated in Denmark and Slovenia on cured meats. The taxonomic position of these strains in Penicillium was investigated using calmodulin, β tubulin and ITS sequences, phenotypic characters and extrolite patterns, and resulted in the discovery of a new Penicillium species, described here as P. salamii. A literature search showed that this species occurs on (cured) meat products worldwide. In our study, P. salamii predominated the salami and capocollo surface in levels similar to the commonly known starter culture P. nalgiovense, irrespective of the room or age of seasoning. Preliminary inoculation trials with P. salamii showed that it was able to colonize salami during seasoning, indicating that this species could be used as a fungal starter for dry-cured meat.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA), National Research Council (CNR), Via Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy. Electronic address: giancarlo.perrone@ispa.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perrone
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Uppsalalaan 8, NL-3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Samson
authors.affiliation: Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jens C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Frisvad
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA), National Research Council (CNR), Via Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Susca
authors.affiliation: University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Dept. of Biology, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; Centre of Excellence for Integrated Approaches in Chemistry and Biology of Proteins (CIPKeBIP), Jamova 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gunde-Cimerman
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA), National Research Council (CNR), Via Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Filomena
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Epifani
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Uppsalalaan 8, NL-3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Houbraken
mesh_terms: D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D005511:Food Handling; D007558:Italy; D008461:Meat Products / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010407:Penicillium / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal
keywords: Extrolites; Multilocus analysis; Penicillium nalgiovense; Penicillium olsonii; Salami