How microbes adapt to a diversity of food niches

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), yeasts and molds are employed as starters for the production of fermented foods. Adaptation of starter microorganisms in diverse food niches was accompanied by gene loss and gene gain events. Even though these events may differ between prokaryotic and eukaryotic starters, they reveal evolution toward high fermentation capacity. The accumulation of the fermentation end-products results in an antimicrobial environment ensuring both the dominance of the starter strains and the preservation of the food product. The ecosystem of food fermentations consists most times of simple or complex multispecies microbial populations. In several instances such microbial consortia co-evolved during adaptation to ferment foods and they are necessary as a whole for optimal fermentation and top quality products.