Yeasts in traditional Moroccan goat cheese

Nine samples of goat’s cheese were collected. A total of 68 yeasts were isolated and grouped according to their M13 PCR-fingerprints. Representative isolates of each fingerprint group were identified using rRNA and/or protein-coding gene sequencing leading to the identification of 18 yeast species. The dominant species were Kluyveromyces lactis (19.1%), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (11.7%), Yarrowia lipolytica (10.3%), Candida parapsilosis (10.3%), Kazachstania unispora (8.0%), Kluyveromyces marxianus (7.4%) and Pichia fermentans (5.9%). The yeast diversity of Moroccan goat’s cheese was established using genotypic techniques which proved to be a straightforward approach for the identification of all isolates. This work yielded a well-characterized collection of yeasts from traditional and semi-industrial Moroccan goat cheeses which will be a resource of strains with specific properties.