Plant-Based Alternatives to Mold-Ripened Cheeses as an Innovation among Dairy Analogues

There is a growing demand for vegan products and plant-based food when dealing with the impact of livestock on the climate crisis. The aim of this study was to develop a formulation for a plant-based analogue of mold-ripened cheese. Were investigated the following plant materials: cashews, pistachios, soy flour, chickpea flour, pea protein, pumpkin protein, hemp protein, and spirulina powder. Plant matrices were fermented with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) starter cultures and cheese starter cultures of mold species Geotrichum candidum and Penicillium camemberti. All microorganisms' growth were tested in a vegan-type culture medium. Calcium supplementation was applied and followed by an in-depth analysis of the elemental composition of selected analogues with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. The physicochemical and organoleptic analyses of plant-based alternatives of Camembert were conducted. This is the first paper describing novel formulations for plant-based alternatives for Camembert cheese prepared with techniques mimicking the original milk product.

Biocontrol of plant pathogens in omics era-with special focus on endophytic bacilli

Nearly all plants and their organs are inhabited by endophytic microbes which play a crucial role in plant fitness and stress resilience. Harnessing endophytic services can provide effective solutions for a sustainable increase in agriculture productivity and can be used as a complement or alternative to agrochemicals. Shifting agriculture practices toward the use of nature-based solutions can contribute directly to the global challenges of food security and environmental sustainability. However, microbial inoculants have been used in agriculture for several decades with inconsistent efficacy. Key reasons of this inconsistent efficacy are linked to competition with indigenous soil microflora and inability to colonize plants. Endophytic microbes provide solutions to both of these issues which potentially make them better candidates for microbial inoculants. This article outlines the current advancements in endophytic research with special focus on endophytic bacilli. A better understanding of diverse mechanisms of disease control by bacilli is essential to achieve maximum biocontrol efficacy against multiple phytopathogens. Furthermore, we argue that integration of emerging technologies with strong theoretical frameworks have the potential to revolutionize biocontrol approaches based on endophytic microbes.

Cross Cultivation on Homologous/Heterologous Plant-Based Culture Media Empowers Host-Specific and Real Time In Vitro Signature of Plant Microbiota

Alliances of microbiota with plants are masked by the inability of in vitro cultivation of their bulk. Pure cultures piled in international centers originated from dissimilar environments/hosts. Reporting that plant root/leaf-based culture media support the organ-specific growth of microbiota, it was of interest to further investigate if a plant-based medium prepared from homologous (maize) supports specific/adapted microbiota compared to another prepared from heterologous plants (sunflower). The culture-independent community of maize phyllosphere was compared to communities cross-cultivated on plant broth-based media: CFU counts and taxa prevalence (PCR-DGGE; Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing). Similar to total maize phyllospheric microbiota, culture-dependent communities were overwhelmed by Proteobacteria (>94.3–98.3%); followed by Firmicutes (>1.3–3.7%), Bacteroidetes (>0.01–1.58%) and Actinobacteria (>0.06–0.34%). Differential in vitro growth on homologous versus heterologous plant-media enriched/restricted various taxa. In contrast, homologous cultivation over represented members of Proteobacteria (ca. > 98.0%), mainly Pseudomonadaceae and Moraxellaceae; heterologous cultivation and R2A enriched Firmicutes (ca. > 3.0%). The present strategy simulates/fingerprints the chemical composition of host plants to expand the culturomics of plant microbiota, advance real-time in vitro cultivation and lab-keeping of compatible plant microbiota, and identify preferential pairing of plant-microbe partners toward future synthetic community (SynComs) research and use in agriculture.

Exploiting Beneficial Pseudomonas spp. for Cannabis Production

Among the oldest domesticated crops, cannabis plants (Cannabis sativa L., marijuana and hemp) have been used to produce food, fiber, and drugs for thousands of years. With the ongoing legalization of cannabis in several jurisdictions worldwide, a new high-value market is emerging for the supply of marijuana and hemp products. This creates unprecedented challenges to achieve better yields and environmental sustainability, while lowering production costs. In this review, we discuss the opportunities and challenges pertaining to the use of beneficial Pseudomonas spp. bacteria as crop inoculants to improve productivity. The prevalence and diversity of naturally occurring Pseudomonas strains within the cannabis microbiome is overviewed, followed by their potential mechanisms involved in plant growth promotion and tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Emphasis is placed on specific aspects relevant for hemp and marijuana crops in various production systems. Finally, factors likely to influence inoculant efficacy are provided, along with strategies to identify promising strains, overcome commercialization bottlenecks, and design adapted formulations. This work aims at supporting the development of the cannabis industry in a sustainable way, by exploiting the many beneficial attributes of Pseudomonas spp.

Culture Media Based on Leaf Strips/Root Segments Create Compatible Host/Organ Setup for in vitro Cultivation of Plant Microbiota

Plant microbiota have co-evolved with their associated plants in the entire holobiont, and their assemblages support diversity and productivity on our planet. Of importance is in vitro cultivation and identification of their hub taxa for possible core microbiome modification. Recently, we introduced the in situ-similis culturing strategy, based on the use of plant leaves as a platform for in vitro growth of plant microbiota. Here, the strategy is further extended by exploring plant organ compatible cultivation of plant microbiota when grown on corresponding leaf/root-based culture media. Pooling the advantages of MPN enrichment methodology together with natural plant-only-based culture media, the introduced method efficiently constructed a nutritional milieu governed by vegan nutrients of plant origin, i.e., leaf strips/root segments, immersed in plain semi-solid water agar. MPN estimates exceeded log 7.0 and 4.0 g−1 of endo-rhizosphere and endo-phyllosphere, respectively, of maize and sunflower; being proportionate to those obtained for standard culture media. With sunflower, PCR-DGGE analyses indicated divergence in community composition of cultivable endophytes primarily attributed to culture media, signaling a certain degree of plant organ affinity/compatibility. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing of bacterial isolates, 20 genera comprising 32 potential species were enriched; belonged to Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Alpha-/Gammaproteobacteria. The described cultivation strategy furnished diversified nutritive platform in terms of homologous/heterologous plant organ-based medium and ambient/limited oxygenic cultivation procedure. Duly, cultivability extended to > 8 genera: Bosea, Brevundimonas, Chitinophaga, Pseudoxanthomonas, Sphingobacterium Caulobacter, Scandinavium, and Starkeya; the latter three genera were not yet reported for Sunflower, and possible unknown species or even one new putative genus. Thus, both potential members of the major microbiome and rare isolates of satellite microbiomes can be isolated using the presented method. It is a feasible addition to traditional cultivation methods to explore new potential resources of PGPB for future biotechnological applications.