High-throughput sequencing approach to characterize dynamic changes of the fungal and bacterial communities during the production of sufu, a traditional Chinese fermented soybean food.

Red sufu is a traditional food produced by the fermentation of soybean. In this study, sufu samples were periodically collected during the whole fermentation to investigate the dynamic changes of fungal and bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing technology. The overall process can be divided into pre- and post-fermentation. During post-fermentation, the pH value showed a gradual decrease over time while the amino nitrogen content increased. Trichosporon, Actinomucor and Cryptococcus were the main genera in pre-fermentation while Monascus and Aspergillus were dominant in post-fermentation. This huge shift in fungal composition was caused by process procedure of pouring dressing mixture. However, the bacterial composition was not greatly changed after pouring dressing mixture, the Acinetobacter and Enterobacter were the predominant genera throughout the whole process. Furthermore, Bacillus species were first detected after adding dressing mixture, but declined abruptly to a very low level (0.07%) by the end of the fermentation. Our work demonstrates the dynamic changes of physicochemical properties and microbial composition in every fermentation stage, the knowledge of which could potentially serve as a foundation for improving the safety and quality of sufu in the future.