title: Structure and dynamics of the bacterial communities in fermentation of the traditional Chinese post-fermented pu-erh tea revealed by 16S rRNA gene clone library.
abstract: Microbes are thought to have key roles in the development of the special properties of post-fermented pu-erh tea (pu-erh shucha), a well-known traditional Chinese tea; however, little is known about the bacteria during the fermentation. In this work, the structure and dynamics of the bacterial community involved in the production of pu-erh shucha were investigated using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries constructed from samples collected on days zero (LD-0), 5 (LD-5), 10 (LD-10), 15 (LD-15) and 20 (LD-20) of the fermentation. A total of 747 sequences with individual clone library containing 115-174 sequences and 4-20 unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained. These OTUs were grouped into four phyla (Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria) and further identified as members of 10 families, such as Alcaligenaceae, Bacillaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, etc. The dominant bacteria were Enterobacteriaceae in the raw material (LD-0) and in the initial stages of fermentation (LD-5 and LD-10), which changed to Bacillaceae at the last stages of fermentation (LD-15 and LD-20) at a temperature of 40-60 °C. It is interesting that the dominant OTUs in libraries LD-15 and LD-20 were very closely related to Bacillus coagulans, which is a safe thermoduric probiotic. Together the bacterial diversity and dynamics during a fermentation of pu-erh shucha were demonstrated, and a worthy clue for artificial inoculation of B. coagulans to improve the health benefits of pu-erh shucha or produce probiotic pu-erh tea were provided.
authors.affiliation: College of Longrun Pu-erh Tea, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, 650201, Yunnan, China, zhaoming02292002@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Wenxia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Donglian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yongxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yali
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hongjie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiaolong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D058448:Biota; D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005285:Fermentation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013662:Tea / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D013662:Tea