Domestication of the Emblematic White Cheese-Making Fungus Penicillium camemberti and Its Diversification into Two Varieties

Domestication involves recent adaptation under strong human selection and rapid diversification, and therefore constitutes a good model for studies of these processes. We studied the domestication of the emblematic white mold Penicillium camemberti, used for the maturation of soft cheeses, such as Camembert and Brie, about which surprisingly little was known, despite its economic and cultural importance. Whole genome-based analyses of genetic relationships and diversity revealed that an ancient domestication event led to the emergence of the gray-green P. biforme mold used in cheese-making, from the blue-green wild P. fuscoglaucum fungus. Another much more recent domestication event led to the generation of the P. camemberti clonal lineage from P. biforme. Both these domestication events were associated with strong bottlenecks. Penicillium biforme displayed signs of phenotypic adaptation to cheese-making relative to P. fuscoglaucum, in terms of its whiter color, faster growth on cheese medium under cave conditions, lower levels of toxin production and greater ability to prevent the growth of other fungi. The P. camemberti lineage displayed even stronger signs of domestication for all these phenotypic features. We also identified two differentiated P. camemberti lineages linked to different kinds of cheeses with contrasted phenotypic features in terms of color, growth, toxin production and competitive ability. We have, thus, identified footprints of domestication in these fungi, with genetic differentiation between cheese and wild strains and specific phenotypic traits beneficial for cheese-making. This study has not only fundamental implications for our understanding of domestication but can also have important impacts on cheese-making.