## 4 Discussion  
In this study, variability was observed in the identity of dominant bacteria in Pecorino di Farindola cheese among producers and among lots from the same producer during the whole maturation process. Nevertheless, constant microbiological features could be defined, i.e., the predominance of _Lactococcus lactis_ subsp. _lactis_ and _Leuconstoc mesenteroides_ in curd and in cheese in early ripening and the predominance of _Levilactobacillus brevis_ and enterococci throughout ripening. An unusual observation was that the species _Lacticaseibacillus paracasei_, found to be the most persistent in many other traditional cheeses [14], was not isolated from all manufacturers. _L. brevis_, present in all cheese lots, was found to persist in the product ready for consumption. This species has not been characterized much for its role in cheese flavor formation and safety improvement, although its presence has also been documented in other cheeses from raw ewe and goat milk [33]. In addition, strains of _L. brevis_ with probiotic properties have been described [34; 35]. These aspects should be addressed in further studies on _L. brevis_ isolates from Pecorino di Farindola cheese, together with the safety concern of BA formation and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of the involved genetic determinants reported for this species [36]. The fact that no amino acid decarboxylase genes, except an _odc_ gene found in one isolate, were detected in this study indicates that this LAB species is not frequently responsible for BA formation in Pecorino di Farindola cheese. Enterococci were found to be abundant in this cheese, as in other cheeses made from raw milk [33; 37]. A high diversity was observed for these bacteria on the basis of the presence of genes encoding beneficial or undesired traits. It was surprising that the _tdc_ gene was not detected in most of the _E. facecium_ isolates examined in this study since it was suggested that the presence of this gene is a species-specific trait [29]. This finding is in favor of the safety status of the _E. facecium_ isolates from Pecorino di Farindola cheese in which the presence of virulence characters was not frequent and bacteriocin genes were detected. Therefore, it would be interesting to investigate the ability of these _E. facecium_ isolates to outcompete enterococci with risk characters, such as the examined _E. faccalis_ isolates. Since individual strains of enterococci can present risk characters, the Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) status cannot be conferred to the whole genus or species [37]. On the other hand, the flavor formation ability and probiotic prerequisites demonstrated also in this study, as well as the production of broad spectrum bacterios [37; 38], represent desirable properties for autochthonous microbiota components of traditional cheeses. Therefore, standardized procedures should be fixed in order to individually evaluate enterococci for safety-related aspects to allow their use as autochthonous cultures. These procedures must include the demonstration that these bacteria are not prone to acquiring unwanted genetic traits by HGT in the cheese environment as it was reported for some strains [39; 40]. Analogous issues regard other dominant bacterial species found in this study, e.g., _L. garvue, Streptococcus infuntarius_ and _S. lutetiensis_, that can cause infections in humans [41; 42] but include also strains that carry beneficial characters and are devoid of virulence traits [43; 44]. The assessment of the capacity of isolates obtained at the end of maturation to withstand the harsh conditions of GIT indicated that enterococci, _L. brevis_ and _L. plantarum_ isolates from Pecorino di Farindola cheese are potentially able to survive in GIT upon consumption of the product. This observation encourages future investigations of the probiotic characteristics of the isolates to enrich the product with autochthonous cultures able to enhance its functional properties. The cheese making trial was carried out with an autochthonous added culture, a _L.