Camel milk is renowned for its nutritional value and its therapeutic properties. It is considered a promising alternative to bovine milk due to its higher nutritional benefits, hypoallergenic characteristics and greater digestibility in the human gastrointestinal system. This study reports camel milk's bacterial and fungal microbiota, and the effect of geographical location and season on its bacterial community. We sequenced the V3-V4 regions of the16S rRNA gene for bacteria and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) for fungi. A total of 134 samples of dromedary raw camel milk were collected from south, north and middle Kuwait during two seasons. Raw camel milk showed a diversified bacterial community, with 1196 genera belonging to 33 phyla. The four most predominant phyla of bacteria were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidota. The core microbiota of raw camel milk, represented by the dominant genera shared by the majority of samples, was constituted by the genera Schlegelella, Paenibacillus, Lactobacillus, unclassified Comamonadaceae, Pediococcus, Moraxella, Acinetobacter, Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, unclassified Micrococcaceae, Rothia, unclassified Sphingomonadaceae, unclassified Neisseriaceae and Sphingomonas. The fungal population was assessed in 14 raw camel milk samples, and comprised 87 genera belonging to 3 phyla. The genera Penicillium, Cladosporium, Candida, Aspergillus, Alternaria and Fusarium, dominated the fungal community. These findings shed light on raw camel milk's core bacterial and fungal microbiome. The geographical location and the season had a significant impact on the diversity and composition of camel milk microbiome.
Keywords: Bacterial microbiota; Camel milk; Fungal community; Geographical location; Metagenomics; Seasonal variability of microbiome.
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