Microbiota composition on cheese rind by DNA-metabarcoding analysis
Surface microbiota of aged cheese samples were collected by rinsing defined rind pieces in peptone water with streptomycin and Tween 80. DNA was extracted from the wash solution using a commercial kit. Bacterial 16S V3V4 and fungal ITS2 regions were amplified by PCR to prepare sequencing libraries, which were quantified, pooled, and sequenced using paired-end 250 bp reads on an Illumina platform. Raw reads were quality-filtered, merged, and chimera-checked. Sequences were clustered into OTUs at 97% similarity and taxonomically annotated using the SILVA138 database for bacteria and UNITE V8.2 database for fungi. OTU abundances were normalized and used to characterize microbial community composition and diversity.