Microbial communities and metabolite profiles during the fermentation of Chinese Dongbei suancai with Chinese baijiu as supplementary material

In industrial production of suancai, baijiu is commonly used to inhibit the spoilage bacteria and enhance the flavor. However, the effects of baijiu on the microbial diversity and metabolic pathways of suancai are rarely reported in the literature. This study aimed to explore the microbial community, its predicted functional roles, and the metabolites formed during fermentation of Chinese Dongbei suancai fermented using a mixed starter with Chinese baijiu as supplementary material.Results showed that Lactobacillus, Enterobacter, and Leuconostoc were the major bacterial genera in the Dongbei suancai fermented by adding baijiu. Linear discriminant analysis effect size indicated that Leuconostoc was the major biomarker in the early stage of fermentation, whereas Lactococcus, Weissella, and Lactobacillus plantarum were biomarkers in the middle and later stages of fermentation. A total of 638 metabolites were detected in suancai fermented by adding baijiu. However, the principal component analysis showed that baijiu significantly affected the metabolites of suancai in the early and later stages of fermentation. Furthermore, 58, 22, and 26 significantly differential metabolites (P < 0.01) were found on day 0, day 2, and day 30 of fermentation respectively. Moreover, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Enterobacter had positive correlations with amino acids, nucleotides, organic acids, alcohols, and esters. Functional analysis implied that carbohydrate, amino acid, energy, and nucleotide metabolism were the major determinants of the characteristics of suancai fermented with baijiu as supplementary material.Baijiu changed the metabolites of inoculated fermented Dongbei suancai. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.