WCFS Food Summit 2000: Impact of genomics on food sciences

The exponentially growing data-bank of genomic sequence information, ranging from microbes to man, the high throughput analysis of expression products, and the ability to order this information using advanced biocomputing methods are all developments that affect biological sciences in a profound and unprecedented way. It is expected that these developments, collectively designated here as genomics, will permit a more complete description and understanding of biological systems in general, and will enable a prediction of the function of individual components.

The WCFS Food Summit addressed the question how these developments might contribute to the design, production, and marketing of healthy, functional and safe foods, specifically those produced from raw materials via microbiological activity. During this meeting approximately 50 international experts from academia, research institutes and industry participated in a series of workshops that were introduced by plenary lectures from eminent speakers and flanked by overview lectures, focusing on the impact of genomics on the production of raw plant materials, on the biomedical sciences, on the development of personal care products and on the human genome.

The expert lectures all illustrated the holistic and high throughput approaches that can be provided by the application of genomics but also an insight into potential shortcomings, notably revealing technical limitations beyond the stage of DNA sequencing. These lectures provided the basis for two separate sessions of workshops on themes that reflected the importance of microbial activity in the food production chain, viz. microbial processing and microbial safety.

The impact of genomics on microbial processing was addressed in three parallel workshops that reflected the forms in which raw materials are converted prior to their delivery to the consumer: i.e. cells and ingredients, fermented foods, and products aimed at reaching the gastro-intestinal tract of the consumer. While genomics is more than only gene discovery on a large scale, it appeared that the ‘mining’ of the genome, including its mobile elements such as plasmids and phages, using advanced bioinformatics will come to be an important application that capitalizes on the natural microbial diversity. Furthermore, it was noted that for many commodities the metabolic end products are the final form of microbial activity. Hence there is a large need for high throughput metabolic analysis (metabolomics), the further application of metabolic engineering, and the predicting of metabolic pathways from the genome. Finally, its was concluded that the application of genomic approaches is the only way to perform hypothesis-driven research on the activity of consumed microorganisms and to support future functional claims in an area where ‘food and pharma’ may grow together.

The genomic impact on microbial safety was discussed in three other parallel workshops that addressed pathogen variation, adaptation and diagnostics, stress and virulence, and the microbial control of undesired microbes. The detection of pathogens and their expression products will be facilitated by the genomic revolution, providing an insight into what virulence genes (pathogenes) are and what controls their expression. Similarly, the weakest links in the chains in the pathogen’s defense system can be detected allowing processing tools to be developed that challenge viability, outgrowth or expression of pathogens. Finally, the antagonistic effects that oral consumption of large amounts of lactic acid and other bacteria have on various known pathogens can be analyzed using genomic approaches.

In all workshops it was recognized that microbial genomics is developing fast as a consequence of the relatively small genome size of microbes and today’s high throughput sequencing facilities. However, it was stressed repeatedly that although microbial diversity is already large, strains adapt quickly, and horizontal gene transfer is the rule rather than an exception. Hence, not all production strains or pathogens can be known at the genome level and there is a need to employ comparative genomics in combination with other smart and high throughput genomic approaches, such as library expression arrays. Furthermore, in many applications mixed microbial cultures are used or encountered, such as in the intestinal tract. Therefore, there is a growing need to apply ecological principles in combination with genomics both in microbial processing and microbial safety.

In conclusion, the WCFS Food Summit 2000 on the Impact of Genomics on Food Sciences addressed a timely subject in a scientific and social setting that was highly appreciated by the participants and provided them with the opportunity to set research priorities for themselves in academia, research institutes and industry.

As a consequence of the Food Summit WCFS is reviewing with its partners the market potential of food and nutrigenomic research both in ongoing research programmes as well as in specifically designed research programmes. Further WCFS staff is actively involved in national committees advising the Netherlands Government about future potentials and need into genomics research.

For more information on the Food Summit contact WCFS.