Metagenomic Analysis of Suansun, a Traditional Chinese Unsalted Fermented Food

Abstract

Suansun, made from fresh bamboo shoots fermented without salt, is a traditional food in China’s southern region and is popular for its nutritious and unique flavor. To comprehensively understand the microbial species and characteristics of suansun, Illumina HiSeq metagenomic sequencing technology was used to sequence suansun’s fermentation broth obtained from six traditional producing areas in southern China, and the microbial community structure, diversity, and functional genes were analyzed. A total of 8 phyla, 16 classes, 30 orders, 63 families, 92 genera, and 156 species of microorganisms were identified in the suansun samples, with Lactiplantibacillus predominating, accounting for up to 81% of the species, among which 12 species, including Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, were the main species. A total of 12,751 unigenes were annotated to 385 metabolic pathway classes, of which 2927 unigenes were involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Lactiplantibacillus fermentum, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, and Lactiplantibacillus brucei were involved in the metabolism of most nutrients and flavor substances in suansun. Overall, these results provide insights into the suansun microbiota and shed light on the fermentation processes carried out by complex microbial communities.

Investigating the mechanism of the flavor formation in Sichuan sun vinegar based on flavor-orientation and metagenomics

“…In addition to global and overview maps, carbohydrate, and amino acid metabolisms were the two most annotated pathways. This result has also been observed in other fermented foods ( Hu et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2019 ).

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First report on metagenomics and their predictive functional analysis of fermented bamboo shoot food of Tripura, North East India

“…Additionally, computational methods were used to predict the presence of the taurine and hypotaurine production genes, which have been linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease ( Xu et al, 2008 ). According to the COG database, carbohydrate metabolism, RNA processing and modification, chromatin structure and dynamics and cytoskeleton were predominant in all the samples when correlated between COG data and major species which is consistent with the results obtained by Hu et al (2021) . KEGG pathway annotation of samples revealed the catabolism of cyanogenic glycosides, viz., dhurrin, and linamarin through the cyano amino metabolic pathway.…”

“…Firmicutes was the most abundant phylum in moiya pangsung, moiya koshak, mileye amileye , and midukeye , like in other Asian fermented bamboo shoot foods like suansun of China ( Hu et al, 2021 ), and tuaithar of Mizoram, India ( Deka et al, 2021 ). Lactobacillaceae was the abundant family in moiya pangsung, moiya koshak, mileye amileye , and midukeye as reported earlier in other ethnic bamboo shoot fermented foods ( Ghosh et al, 2019 ).…”

“…The microbiology of fermented bamboo shoots has been rarely studied through culture-independent techniques except in tuaithar of Mizoram ( Deka et al, 2021 ), khorisa of Assam ( Behera et al, 2020 ), suansun of China ( Hu et al, 2021 ). Moreover, there are no culture-independent studies present on the fermented bamboo shoot products of Tripura.…”

Molecular Diversity of Microbes Associated with Fermented Bamboo Shoots

“…along with L. brevis in soidon by using the molecular technique. In the metagenomic study (fermented bamboo shoots) by Hu et al . (2021) , the bacteria belonging to 8 phyla, 16 classes, 30 orders, 63 families, 92 genera and 156 species, with Lactiplantibacillus accounting for up to 81% of the species, with 12 species, including L. plantarum , were reported.…”