Abstract
The opisthonotal glands of Astigmata contain monoterpenes, aromatics, aliphatics, and other volatile compounds; some of these compounds act as pheromones and have antifungal effects. This study analyzed volatile compounds secreted by mites on three traditional mite-ripened cheeses from producers (Milbenkäse from Germany, Mimolette and Artisou from France). The mites obtained from various traditional ripened French cheeses (Mimolette, Laguiole, Salers, and Cantal vieux) from stores were also investigated. The gas chromatography (GC) profiles of all their hexane extracts, except the Cantal vieux one, showed almost no differences and were identical to that of Tyrolichus casei Oudemans except for trace components. Based on the GC results, the mites of Cantal vieux were identified as Acarus siro L. For the Artisou and Cantal vieux, not studied before, the influence of the mite secretions on their characteristics was investigated by analyzing the headspace volatiles from the cheeses. According to the results, neral secreted from T. casei is the main compound responsible for the lemon-like flavor of the mite-ripened cheeses, which is, hence, due to a component of the mite secretions rather than the fermentation of the cheese itself. Moreover, the compounds secreted by the mites are not directly added to the cheese through ripening as they were not detected in the odors of the Artisou and Cantal vieux after the mites were removed. However, the consumers of the Artisou usually eat also the cheese rind, and thus, can enjoy its lemon-like flavor fully.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Mr. Takamasa Nemoto for taking photographs of mites and Dr. Tobias Pfingstl (Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria) for valuable comments on the draft manuscript. We are grateful to Messrs. Helmut Pöschel and Christian Schmelzer (Milbenkäse Museum, Würchwitz, Burgenlandkreis, Germany), Messrs. Cesar Yves Losfeld, Sylvain Leveque, and Richard Selosse of the cheese factories Cézar Losfeld (Roubaix, French Flanders, France) and GAEC de Lʼartisou (Rosières, Haute-Loire, France) for their help and guidance and for providing the mites. We would like to thank Ms. Nora Gutting (journalist) of the newspaper, L'éveil de La Haute-Loire, for kindly providing us with the newspaper article, which we have included as Supplement 2. We thank the French government (Légifrance) for permission to use the web information (DILA, Légifrance) used in Supplement 1. One of the authors (SS) would like to express his sincere gratitude to Drs. Daniel Gilbert and Nadine Bernard, Laboratoire, Chrono-environnement, Université de Franche-Comté-CNRS and Dr. Vincent Jassey, CNRS Researcher, Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle and Environnement, Université Paul Sabatier Bâtiment for their strong support in obtaining a CNRS research grant (invitation program) for his stay in France in 2009, and for taking care of everything. The stay and experience in France significantly advanced the conception of this research and a previous study (Shimano et al. 2022). One of the authors (SS) is very grateful to Mr. Bernard Guillemin, Ms. Karine Guillemin (fine artist), and Mr. Yohei Yama (fine artist) for their help when he visited the ‘fermier’ where Artisou is made, to Ms. Stefanie Sasaki-Sellmer and Mr. Hiroshi Sasaki for their translation and help when he visited the Milbenkäse Museum, and to the fine artist Ms. Mayumi Kuronuma for her help to all the cheese producers, in this research and a previous study (Shimano et al. 2022).
Funding
This research was supported by research funds of the Asahi Glass Foundation for SS, as well as by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18K06392 to SS and SFH. This research was also supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18K05468 and Nagase Science Technology Foundation for NS.
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SS, NS, SFH and WH designed this study and drafted the manuscript; NS did chemical analyses of the results, developed the project and the study protocol; SS collected the samples, recorded their data, and edited the manuscript; SFH and WH created a database of the results; BMOC identified the samples and edited the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Shimizu, N., OConnor, B.M., Hiruta, S.F. et al. Mite secretions from three traditional mite-ripened cheese types: are ripened French cheeses flavored by the mites (Acari: Astigmata)?. Exp Appl Acarol 87, 309–323 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-022-00734-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-022-00734-7