Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Archives of Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-019-01626-y ORIGINALPAPER Impact of seasonality and environmental conditions on yeast diversity from camel’s milk collected in Algeria Soufan Ider 1,2,3  · Yanath Belguesmia 2  · Françoise Coucheney 2  · Mabrouk Kihal 1  · Djamel Drider 2 Received: 2 January 2019 / Revised: 22 January 2019 / Accepted: 30 January 2019 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract During this study, we characterized the seasonality’s impact and environmental conditions on the yeast diversity from raw camel’s milk collected in Algeria. The yeast counts were estimated to 3.55 × 10 2 CFU mL −1 , with a maximum of 6.3 × 10 2 CFU mL −1 . The yeasts were categorized phenotypically by API 20C AUX, MALDI-TOF and genetically by sequencing 26S rDNA and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2. The rDNA sequencing approaches revealed 12 species including unusual ones such as Trichosporon asahii, Pichia fermentans, Millerozyma farinosa, Pichia galeiformis, Candida tartarivorans and Pichia man- shurica. The most dominant species were T. asahii (23%), P. fermentans (19%) and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (14%). The high occurrence and large diversity were registered in samples collected during the autumn season, in the semi-arid and arid highlands regions with 0.66 × 10 3 CFU mL −1 and 0.51 × 10 3 CFU mL −1 , respectively. Interestingly, T. asahii, R. mucilaginosa, P. fermentans, C. parapsilosis and C. zeylanoides were detected during both spring and autumn. Keywords Camel milk · Yeasts · Biodiversity · Environmental conditions · Phenotypic and genotypic characterization Introduction The Camelus dromedarius is a single-humped camel spe- cies belonging to the Camelidae family (Siboukeur 2007). In Algeria, national camel reserves were estimated, more than a decade ago to 150 thousand animals, and this trend was accompanied by an increase in the number of camel milk producers (Lhoste 2004). The geographical distribution of the camel population in Algeria encompasses the semi-arid areas, the arid areas and the full desert. Camels living in these areas are subjected to highly elevated temperatures and limited access to water sources. In spite of these harsh environmental conditions, this animal produces milk almost yearlong and in amounts considered to be greater than those from other animals living in same conditions (Park and Haenlein 2008). Camel’s milk is rich in proteins, fats, minerals and vita- mins (Konuspayeva et al. 2009; Haddadin et al. 2008). Additionally, camel’s milk is characterized for its high water level, near-neutral pH and high lactose (http://www. fao.org/docre p/003/X6528 E/X6528 E03.htm). This milk content can permit the development of a rich autochtho- nous microbiota. Microorganisms present in such ecosys- tem are basically issued from teat apex, milking equip- ment, air, water, food, grass, soil and other environments (Coorevits et al. 2008; Angulo et al. 2009; Vacheyrou et al. 2011). Yeasts were found in the raw milk and their occur- rence was estimated to be about 10 4 CFU mL −1 , mostly belonging to Kluyveromyces lactis, Zygosaccharomyces bailii, Zygosaccharomyces bisporus and Debaryomyces hansenii species with no pathogenic yeasts identifed in camel milk (Baroiller and Schmidt 1990; Njage et al. 2011; Yam et al. 2015). Their diversity and amount in the raw milk was reported to be rearing practices dependent. In fact, yeasts with capabilities to metabolize lactose, con- versely to those devoid of such metabolic activity, can eas- ily grow and take advantage from media containing lactose Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt. * Djamel Drider djamel.drider@univ-lille.fr 1 Laboratoire de Microbiologie Fondamentale et Appliquée, Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Université Oran 1 - Ahmed Ben Bella, Es Senia, 31100 Oran, Algeria 2 EA 7394-Institut Charles Violette, Université de Lille, 59000 Lille, EA, France 3 Present Address: Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie et Sciences de la Terre, Université de Ghardaïa, BP 455, 47000 Ghardaïa, Algeria