1. Academic Validation
  2. Metagenomics reveals flavour metabolic network of cereal vinegar microbiota

Metagenomics reveals flavour metabolic network of cereal vinegar microbiota

  • Food Microbiol. 2017 Apr;62:23-31. doi: 10.1016/j.fm.2016.09.010.
Lin-Huan Wu 1 Zhen-Ming Lu 2 Xiao-Juan Zhang 2 Zong-Min Wang 2 Yong-Jian Yu 3 Jin-Song Shi 4 Zheng-Hong Xu 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 School of Pharmaceutical Science, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China; Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
  • 2 School of Pharmaceutical Science, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
  • 3 Jiangsu Hengshun Vinegar Industry Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang 212043, China.
  • 4 School of Pharmaceutical Science, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China; National Engineering Research Centre of Solid-State Brewing, Luzhou 646000, China.
  • 5 School of Pharmaceutical Science, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China; National Engineering Research Centre of Solid-State Brewing, Luzhou 646000, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract

Multispecies microbial community formed through centuries of repeated batch acetic acid fermentation (AAF) is crucial for the flavour quality of traditional vinegar produced from cereals. However, the metabolism to generate and/or formulate the essential flavours by the multispecies microbial community is hardly understood. Here we used metagenomic approach to clarify in situ metabolic network of key microbes responsible for flavour synthesis of a typical cereal vinegar, Zhenjiang aromatic vinegar, produced by solid-state fermentation. First, we identified 3 organic acids, 7 Amino acids, and 20 volatiles as dominant vinegar metabolites. Second, we revealed taxonomic and functional composition of the microbiota by metagenomic shotgun sequencing. A total of 86 201 predicted protein-coding genes from 35 phyla (951 genera) were involved in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways of Metabolism (42.3%), Genetic Information Processing (28.3%), and Environmental Information Processing (10.1%). Furthermore, a metabolic network for substrate breakdown and dominant flavour formation in vinegar microbiota was constructed, and microbial distribution discrepancy in different metabolic pathways was charted. This study helps elucidating different metabolic roles of microbes during flavour formation in vinegar microbiota.

Keywords

Cereal vinegar; Flavour; Metabolic pathway; Metagenomics; Microbiota.

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