GENOBOX

A genomics toolbox to enhance business for SMEs in the market of starter cultures and probiotics

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Fermented food (e.g. cheese, yoghurt, bread, wine) constitute a large part of our diet. They are converted from a substrate (milk, fruits, cereals) by the action of micro-organisms (yeast or lactic acid bacteria). When such starter cultures also exert a health benefit (eg. prevention of diarrhea) they are known as probiotic strains. Throughout the EU starters and probiotic strains are mainly supplied by SMEs to end-users for application in food products. The SMEs compete with a few large companies providing such cultures. The competitive edge of SMEs is at risk in part due to stricter safety rules to be imposed by EFSA. EFSA will demand full genome characterisation to exclude presence of sequences posing a potential health risk (such as virulence factors, antibiotic resistance and toxins) and to allow traceability of distinct strains as proprietary strains are unique. Genome analyses and bio-informatics are not the current core of SMEs in this consortium as they have focus on primarily cost effectiveness. GENOBOX exploits the strength of four SME starter culture companies and probiotic producers in this sector combined with skills and expertise of two renowned RTD performers. The RTD performers will sequence and analyse 48 bacterial strains provided by SMEs and coming from culture collections. A genomics toolbox will be created, allowing every SME to exclusively study the detailed results on their own strains while benefitting from results of the collective. The SMEs will perform in-house experiments and demonstrations to validate the results of the project for optimised production yields. Also workshops will be organised by the RTD performers to develop data-exploitation strategies for the SMEs involved. During this project the SMEs will be able to abide to EFSA ruling, enable to patent their strains for specific purposes, exploit strain functionalities and health benefits and maximise their production yields by optimising strain survival during processing.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Researchers are aiding small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in exploiting beneficial microbes called probiotics, by providing genetic tools for characterising useful probiotic strains.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Probiotics are microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast that may promote human health, particularly for the digestive system. In the EU, probiotic strains are usually grown by SMEs, which supply live cultures for use in fermented foods like yoghurt.

Since the properties of probiotic strains are determined by their DNA, the sequence of their genomes can be used to predict a strain's useful function.

The EU-funded 'A genomics toolbox to enhance business for SMEs in the market of starter cultures and probiotics' (http://www.genobox.eu (GENOBOX)) project is developing tools for sequencing and analysing probiotic strains, aiming to identify and fully characterise strains that could benefit health. In addition, to satisfy stricter probiotics safety rules imposed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), GENOBOX will check the sequences for potentially harmful elements.

Having sequenced 28 bacterial strains, analysed their quality, and identified sequences responsible for functional traits and benefits, GENOBOX set up an information database for SMEs. This includes genes involved in flavour formation and cheese ripening (for the dairy industry), and gut cell adhesion or vitamin production (for the probiotics industry).

In addition to providing tools that enable SMEs to exploit their microbes' health benefits, GENOBOX has optimised protocols and media for growing the most useful strains. Using strain-specific functional information, the food industry may in the future develop personalised foods to address specific health problems, thereby contributing to a healthier population.