title: Metagenomics reveals flavour metabolic network of cereal vinegar microbiota.
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.
authors.affiliation: 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.
authors.forename: Lin-Huan
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Science, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Zhen-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Science, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Juan
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Science, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Zong-Min
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Hengshun Vinegar Industry Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang 212043, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Jian
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: 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.
authors.forename: Jin-Song
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: 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: zhenghxu@jiangnan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zheng-Hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D019342:Acetic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D005421:Flavoring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D013649:Taste
chemical_list: D005421:Flavoring Agents; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D019342:Acetic Acid
keywords: Cereal vinegar; Flavour; Metabolic pathway; Metagenomics; Microbiota