Yes, Camembert and Brie are made from the same mold

Camembert de Normandie with ladle-molded raw milk (PDO terroir du Cotentin) -

• As he domesticated the dog from the wolf, humans domesticated the molds that make the best cheeses, according to a study published by our partner The Conversation.

• It is the same mold, Penicillium camemberti, which is at the origin of today's camemberts and bries.

• The analysis of this proximity was carried out by Jeanne Ropars, CNRS researcher in evolutionary biology and Tatiana Giraud, research director in evolutionary biology (both at the University of Paris-Saclay).

Camembert and brie did not always have that beautiful, immaculate, cottony white surface that we know them today, as attested by a 19th century painting by Marie-Jules Justin (

, below below), where you can see a brie with an orange surface and large areas of a blue gray mold.

Archival photos show gray-blue bries still in 1953.

Before the use of Penicilium camemberti, brie did not have the appearance we know it today (illustration: Symphonie des fromages en brie major, oil on canvas by Marie-Jules Justin, late 19th century)

Brie is an old cheese dating from before the Roman invasion of Gaul (1st century), while the first writings mentioning camembert in Normandy only date from 1703. A legend even says that it is Marie Harel, originally from de Crouttes dans l'Orne, who invented Camembert in 1791. White mold, called

, which is now inoculated into milk at the start of the brie and camembert manufacturing process, is therefore recent.

It is this mold that gives bries and camemberts their white cottony rind and their typical aromas.

A "domesticated" mold

To better understand the evolution of these molds, we sought to reconstruct their evolutionary history.

By analyzing about sixty genomes, we were able to establish the family tree of different

from cheese or other substrates, and we studied their appearance and growth characteristics.

We have revealed that the white, cottony mold used to refine brie and camembert,

, and the gray mold used for goat cheese,

, came from a real process of domestication.

In the same way that humans domesticated the dog from the wolf by selecting specific behaviors and appearances, he domesticated molds by choosing to use those that gave the best cheese, growing more or less quickly, degrading more or less empties the fats and proteins of the milk, and giving the most appetizing aspects.

The two domesticated species

and

indeed show advantageous characteristics for the ripening of cheeses compared to their cousins ​​which are found on other substrates, for example in moldy plant material: laboratory experiments have shown that '' they are whiter, grow faster on cheese in conditions similar to those in a ripening cellar, produce less, or even not at all, of a toxin: cyclopiazonic acid, potentially dangerous for humans , and they more effectively prevent other unwanted microorganisms from contaminating cheeses.

The family tree that we have reconstructed from the genomes has furthermore shown that the domestication of these molds occurred in several stages.

A first domestication event led to the emergence of the gray blue mold

, which is used for fresh goat cheese.

A second, more recent domestication event gave rise to the white cottony clonal line so typical of camemberts and bries,

.

Cotton white vs rough gray?

There was then, and very recently, a diversification of

into two varieties, very close genetically, but with very different aspects, and used to refine different types of cheese: the variety for camembert type cheeses and brie is white and very cottony, grows little horizontally but rather high enough vertically;

on the contrary, the variety used for Saint Marcellin type cheeses is grayer and less downy, and does not produce at all of the toxin that we have studied.

The white and cottony appearance of camembert is due to a mold, Penicillium camemberti © Charly Triballeau / AFP

So, in the same way that humans have selected specific behaviors and appearances in dogs to make them different breeds, they have selected different molds for different types of cheese, leading to diversification into several varieties.

This evolutionary story is in agreement with written records reporting that the biochemist Georges Roger, in 1897 and at the request of the agricultural society of Meaux, isolated

white

from a brie and succeeded in cultivating it in the laboratory, allowing the milk to be inoculated with the "good" mold.

The notoriety of the

white

isolated by Roger arrived in Normandy through the former collaborator of Georges Roger, Émile Louise, then director of the Caen agronomic station, who in 1901 advised cheese makers to seed the camemberts with

white

spores

.

The study of genes to improve ripening

Analyzes of the genomes of different species of

made it possible to understand which genetic changes were responsible for the different appearances and different growth capacities between these molds.

The comparison of genetic data made it possible to detect numerous transfers of genes between different molds in cheese, which are genetically very distant.

These very recent gene transfers involve in particular genes making it possible to make better use of lactose, the sugar present in milk, or to better exclude microorganisms that could contaminate cheese.

The incorporation of these new genes was therefore probably selected because they made it possible to improve the ripening of the cheeses.

Genetic and historical data have also shown that the different domestication events have each caused a great loss of genetic diversity, due to the selection by humans of the few molds that are the most advantageous for cheese ripening.

In particular,

appears to be the result of the selection of a single mold individual.

Strong selection thus allows a homogeneous culture with the best mold at a given time for a certain type of cheese, but it leads to a very low genetic diversity, which can then prove to be a huge disadvantage.

A low genetic diversity in fact prevents the continuation of the process of varietal improvement and diversification, of adaptation to new uses, conditions or substrates, and even leads in the long term to a degeneration of species, especially in a species that is being multiplied. asexually like molds.

The first writings mentioning the most famous Norman cheese date from 1703. Since 1983, Camembert de Normandie has been protected by a Controlled Designation of Origin (AOC) © Charly Triballeau / AFP

Good use of sexual reproduction

Indeed, disadvantageous mutations accumulate inexorably, and cannot be repaired or replaced by using diversity and recombination as in a natural population which reproduces sexually and with diversity.

In fact, we have noticed that the varieties of

produce very few spores, which poses problems for the preservation, transplanting and inoculation of the fungus in the milk at the start of the cheese-making process, which is usually made for Camembert.

One possibility of generating genetic diversity would be to induce sexual reproduction in

.

In fact, molds are generally capable of reproducing themselves sexually or asexually depending on the conditions, and it would "suffice" to identify the right conditions to stimulate sexual reproduction in

, to cross between them different individuals and thus generate genetic variability, instead of always growing it in a medium that promotes its growth in the form of mold, without genetic mixing.

Crossing different individuals would make it possible to generate genetic diversity in their descendants, and thus to avoid degeneration and to continue to select new interesting properties for cheese makers.

Beyond these interests for cheese makers, the study of the domestication of cheese molds allows us to better understand how living beings adapt to new environments and diversify into many different species.

Today's camemberts and bries are all matured with the same clonal line of

, which coats these cheeses with white fluff.

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This analysis was written by Jeanne Ropars, CNRS researcher in evolutionary biology and Tatiana Giraud, research director in evolutionary biology (both at the University of Paris-Saclay).

The original article was published on The Conversation website.

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