Rachel presents the lab's research for iBiology: Most microbes in nature exist within a microbial community. However, little is known about how different microbial species interact with each other and their environment to form these communities.
Watch as a cheese mite eats mold hyphae as if they were spaghetti! This mite is munching on the mold Scopulariopsis fusca. Cheese mites live on the rinds of naturally aged cheeses. They are more interested in eating the molds that colonize the outside of the cheese and are less interested in the cheese itself.
Uploaded by DuttonLab on 2013-06-04.
Rachel Dutton and colleagues describe how analysis of microbes residing on different types of cheese across the world can provide insight into microbial communities' assembly and function.
Have you ever wondered why mozzarella bubbling and stretching between pizza slices is so different from the earthy flavors of blue-veined gorgonzola? The diversity of cheeses we love are created by encouraging and manipulating the growth of specific microbes.