Fu Yuting, Chen Shuai, Wang Xinjun, Wang Lu, Wang Zexin, Cheng Yanfei, Liu Yuyi, Zhang Lin, Liu Sixin, Kang Jiamu, Li Congfa
School of Food Science and Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China.
Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Functional Food of Hainan Province, Haikou 570228, China.
Foods. 2024 May 23;13(11):1615. doi: 10.3390/foods13111615.
White pepper, used both as a seasoning in people's daily diets and as a medicinal herb, is typically produced by removing the pericarp of green pepper through the retting process. However, the mechanism of the retting process for peeling remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the changes in physicochemical factors, microbial community succession effects, and metabolites of the pepper pericarp during the pepper peeling process. The findings indicated that pre-treatment involving physical friction before the retting process effectively reduced the production time of white pepper. During the retting process, the pectinase activity increased, leading to a decrease in the pectin content in the pepper pericarp. There was a significant correlation observed between the changes in pH, pectin content, and peeling rate and the Shannon diversity index of bacteria and fungi. , , and were the dominant microbial genera during the retting. The functional predictions suggested that the monosaccharides degraded from the pepper pericarp could have been utilized by microbes through sugar metabolism pathways. Metabolomic analysis showed that the metabolic pathways of carbohydrates and amino acids were the main pathways altered during the pepper peeling process. The verification experiment demonstrated that the degradation of pectin into galacturonic acid by polygalacturonase was identified as the key enzyme in shortening the pepper peeling time. The structure of the pepper pericarp collapsed after losing the support of pectin, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy. These results suggest that the decomposition of the pepper pericarp was driven by key microbiota. The succession of microbial communities was influenced by the metabolites of the pepper pericarp during retting. These findings provide new insights into the retting process and serve as an important reference for the industrial production of white pepper.
白胡椒，既作为人们日常饮食中的调味料，又作为一种草药，通常是通过沤制过程去除青椒的果皮而制成。然而，用于去皮的沤制过程的机制尚不清楚。因此，本研究旨在调查辣椒去皮过程中辣椒果皮的理化因素变化、微生物群落演替效应和代谢产物。研究结果表明，在沤制过程之前进行物理摩擦预处理可有效缩短白胡椒的生产时间。在沤制过程中，果胶酶活性增加，导致辣椒果皮中的果胶含量降低。观察到pH值、果胶含量和去皮率的变化与细菌和真菌的香农多样性指数之间存在显著相关性。在沤制过程中，、和是主要的微生物属。功能预测表明，从辣椒果皮降解的单糖可能已被微生物通过糖代谢途径利用。代谢组学分析表明，碳水化合物和氨基酸的代谢途径是辣椒去皮过程中主要改变的途径。验证实验表明，聚半乳糖醛酸酶将果胶降解为半乳糖醛酸被确定为缩短辣椒去皮时间的关键酶。扫描电子显微镜显示，辣椒果皮在失去果胶的支撑后结构坍塌。这些结果表明，辣椒果皮的分解是由关键微生物群驱动的。在沤制过程中，微生物群落的演替受辣椒果皮代谢产物的影响。这些发现为沤制过程提供了新的见解，并为白胡椒的工业化生产提供了重要参考。
