School of Food Science, Shihezi University, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Shihezi, PR China; Engineering Research Center for Storage and Processing of Xinjiang Characteristic Fruits and Vegetables, Ministry of Education, Shihezi University, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Shihezi, PR China.
Hubei Provincial Engineering and Technology Research Center for Food Ingredients, Hubei University of Arts and Sciences, Xiangyang, Hubei Province, PR China.
Food Res Int. 2021 Mar;141:110112. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110112. Epub 2021 Jan 11.
Zha-chili is a traditional Chinese fermented food with special flavor, which is often used as an appetizer in condiments and an important energy source. The final quality of zha-chili is closely related to its microbial community structure. However, the differences of bacterial diversity in zha-chili from different regions and how bacterial species affect zha-chili fermentation process and flavor quality have not been reported. In this study, the bacterial diversity and flavor quality of zha-chili samples from different regions were analyzed using Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing, electronic nose and electronic tongue technology. Twenty-three bacterial phyla and 665 bacterial genera were identified in all zha-chili samples. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were the dominant bacterial phyla in zha-chili samples, while Lactobacillus, Pseudomonas, Pediococcus, Weissella and Staphylococcus were the dominant bacterial genera. The bacterial community structure of zha-chili samples from different regions was significantly diverse (p < 0.05). The flavor of zha-chili samples also varied in different regions, and the discrepancy of taste was much greater than that of aroma. Moreover, there were significant correlations (p < 0.05) between 6 dominant bacterial genera and 8 flavor indicators (3 aroma indicators, 5 taste indicators). In addition, the results of microbiome phenotypes prediction by BugBase and bacterial functional potential prediction using PICRUSt showed that eight out of nine predicted phenotypic functions of zha-chili samples from different regions were significantly different (p < 0.05), bacterial metabolism was vigorous in the zha-chili samples, and Lactobacillus was the dominant bacterial genus involved in metabolism during fermentation.
扎辣椒是一种具有特殊风味的中国传统发酵食品，通常用作调味品的开胃菜和重要的能量来源。扎辣椒的最终质量与其微生物群落结构密切相关。然而，不同地区扎辣椒的细菌多样性差异以及细菌种类如何影响扎辣椒发酵过程和风味质量尚未报道。本研究采用 Illumina Miseq 高通量测序、电子鼻和电子舌技术分析了来自不同地区的扎辣椒样品的细菌多样性和风味品质。在所有扎辣椒样品中鉴定出 23 个细菌门和 665 个细菌属。厚壁菌门、变形菌门和放线菌门是扎辣椒样品中的优势细菌门，而乳杆菌属、假单胞菌属、肠球菌属、魏斯氏菌属和葡萄球菌属是优势细菌属。不同地区扎辣椒样品的细菌群落结构差异显著（p<0.05）。不同地区扎辣椒的风味也存在差异，口感的差异明显大于香气。此外，6 个主要细菌属与 8 个风味指标（3 个香气指标，5 个口感指标）之间存在显著相关性（p<0.05）。此外，通过 BugBase 进行微生物组表型预测和使用 PICRUSt 进行细菌功能潜力预测的结果表明，来自不同地区的 9 个扎辣椒样品中，有 8 个预测的表型功能存在显著差异（p<0.05），扎辣椒样品中的细菌代谢活跃，发酵过程中参与代谢的优势细菌属是乳杆菌属。
