ProtectedDairy · Protected starter cultures for the dairy industry

Milk and its fermentation derivatives, yogurt and cheese, are globally consumed at rates of >750 million tonnes annually, and are responsible for ~10% of the protein consumption worldwide. In the process of yogurt and cheese production, starter cultures of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are added to milk, leading to fermentative production of the end product. Optimal growth of the lactic acid bacteria within the milk is critical for high-quality fermentation in the manufacturing of such dairy products.During fermentation, growth of starter culture bacteria is frequently impaired by viruses (phages) that infect these bacteria. Phage infection of lactic acid bacteria fermentative cultures is the main cause for incomplete or delayed fermentation processes in the dairy industry, and it is estimated that 10% of dairy fermentation processes fail due to culture infection by phage. This puts an extensive financial burden on the yogurt and cheese industries, a market estimated at >$80B annually. There is therefore a strong need for tools that would protect lactic acid bacteria from phage infection during the fermentation process.In our ERC-funded project we discovered novel defense systems that confer strong resistance against multiple types of phages. We showed that our systems do not impair normal growth of bacteria, and provide efficient phage-resistance features, conferring protection against a broad range of phages. Within the current PoC project we will harness our discoveries to develop non-GMO prototype lactic acid bacteria that are strongly protected against phage infection. This prototype is expected to demonstrate highly resilient, enhanced starter culture bacteria that will have superior durability and resistance over currently available starter culture bacteria used in the market.