Page 93 - Read Online

Page 12 of 15 Kamilari et al. Microbiome Res Rep 2025;4:3 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/mrr.2024.47

sequencing could distinguish fungal species. In our future experiments, we will consider applying shotgun
sequencing as a more suitable strategy to address this issue. Furthermore, for accurate identification of the
microbial population, incorporating blank negative controls during DNA extraction and sequencing may
prevent false identification of microbial taxa as members of the population due to DNA contamination
from reagents or cross-contamination among samples during sample processing.

In conclusion, the present metataxonomic analysis provided insights into the microbial communities that
characterize East Mediterranean sausages from the islands of Cyprus and Mytilini, highlighting key
microbial taxa that may distinguish traditionally produced sausages from their industrial counterparts.
Understanding the interaction networks among the sausage microbiota members may enhance our
comprehension of the complicated interactions that affect the microbial community composition. This
study could be incorporated with predictive functional analysis to assess how bacterial and fungal metabolic
pathways impact the sensory characteristics of sausages, such as their aromatic profile. Moreover, it may
[76]
integrate SNIF-NMR, IRMS and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) , as
well as DNA fingerprint characterization studies. Combining our analysis with these approaches may
facilitate distinguishing authentic traditional sausages from counterfeit products in the market and offer a
fingerprint for combining authentic PGI sausages.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
Conceptualization, resources, supervision, project administration: Stanton C, Ross RP, Tsaltas D
Methodology, data collection, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, and
visualization: Kamilari E
Writing - original draft preparation, Kamilari E
Writing - review and editing: Stanton C, Ross RP, Tsaltas D
Funding acquisition: Stanton C, Tsaltas D, Ross RP
All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Availability of data and materials
Data are available at: https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA1010021.

Financial support and sponsorship
This research was funded by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) through APC Microbiome Ireland under
Grant number SFI/12/RC/2273. The research was also funded by INTERREG Greece–Cyprus 2014-2020
Program, Project AGRO-ID, which is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF) and National Resources of
Greece and Cyprus.

Conflicts of interest
Ross RP is an Editorial Board member of the Journal Microbiome Research Reports, while the other authors
have declared that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.