Citizen science corner| article
The donated sourdough starter helped researchers uncover the factors that influence microbial communities in these living cultures.
Sourdough bread has a long history with humanity. People love sourdough for its tangy flavor, but the microbes in the live starter that make these delicious breads remain a mystery. To find the answer, Rob DunnAn ecologist and evolutionary biologist at North Carolina State University, he started a citizen science project. The science of sourdough Dunn’s group collaborated with other researchers to study how the geographic location of the inoculum affects microbial species.
“I didn’t expect there to be this much interest,” he says. lauren nicholsHe worked as a lab manager in Dan’s group and is currently a data visualization analyst at Duke University. More than 500 people around the world donated starters. Some of them are starters that have been around for decades and are virtually family heirlooms.
They used 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing to 70 types of yeastalong with the presence of bacteria that produce lactic acid and acetic acid.1 Surprisingly, they found that most starters contained similar bacterial and yeast species, despite their different geographic origins. This discovery raised further questions about how starters are made and maintained.
This is for them Find the cause Fragrance, type of flour, fermentation time, rise height, etc. “We’ve worked with people all over the world who make wild sourdough,” Dunn said. Home bakers experimented with different flours (white or whole wheat) and locations (indoor or outdoor) and reported their observations over several weeks. Out of 40 starters, they found: distinct growth stages This correlated with an early change in bacterial diversity, with lactic acid-producing bacteria lowering the pH during the first few days.2 The type of flour also affects the bacterial species present, which affects the height and acidity of the starter.
With thousands more observations to analyze, Nichols said, “we may discover things we weren’t expecting, which may give us hints about where to focus our energy on future projects.” ” he said.
Interested in submitting your own citizen science project?
