(ANSA) – MILAN, AUGUST 30 – The microbiome found in the food we eat has been revealed: the analysis of over 2,500 foods from 50 countries has allowed us to identify almost 11,000 bacteria and fungi (half of which belong to previously unknown species) that end up making up part of our intestinal flora.
The discovery is published in the journal Cell by an international research team coordinated by the Cibio Department of the University of Trento, and could have important implications not only for human health, but also for improving food preservation and even certifying its origin.
“This is the largest survey of microbes in food ever conducted,” says Nicola Segata, a computational microbiologist at the University of Trento and the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan. Traditionally, microbes in food are grown one by one in the laboratory, a very slow process that is not suitable for all types of microorganisms. To characterize the food microbiome more completely and efficiently, the research team instead exploited metagenomics, an approach that allows the entire genetic material present in a food sample to be simultaneously sequenced.
By analyzing over 2,500 metagenomes, 10,899 genomes of food-associated microbes were identified, classified into 1,036 bacterial species and 108 fungal species. It was also observed that similar foods tend to host similar but not identical microbes, with greater variety among dairy products. “A surprising thing – says Segata – is that some microbes are present with similar functions in very different foods. At the same time, we have shown that foods that come from a specific structure or farm present unique characteristics. This could help determine the specificities and excellence of a single production area.
We could even use metagenomics to identify foods that come from a certain place and a certain production process.”
When compared to the human microbiome, they found that food-associated microbial species make up about 3% of the adult gut microbiome and 56% of the infant gut microbiome. “This suggests that some of our gut microbes may be acquired directly from food, or that historically human populations have gotten these microbes from food and then these microbes have adapted to become part of the human microbiome,” Segata explains. “It may seem like a small percentage, but that 3% can be extremely relevant in terms of function and role within our bodies. With this database, we can start to study on a large scale how the microbial properties of foods affect our health.”
(ANSA).
2024-08-30 13:49:40