Evaluation and comparison of the microbial communities and volatile profiles in homemade suansun from Guangdong and Yunnan provinces in China

BACKGROUND Suansun is a traditional salt-free fermented bamboo shoot product that has been widely consumed as a cooking ingredient in South China for centuries. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the microbial and metabolic diversity in samples of two kinds of suansun, namely, Guangdong suansun (GD) and Yunnan suansun (YN), using HTS (high-throughput sequencing) and HS-SPME/GC-MS (headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry), respectively, and then to assess the influence of environmental factors on the microbial communities. RESULTS The results showed that Lactobacillus and Serratia were the most abundant bacterial genera in both the GD group and the YN groups. For the fungi, Pichia, Candida, and Debaryomyces were the major genera in the GD group, while Pichia and Zygosaccharomyces were the dominant genera in the YN group. The CCA (canonical correlation analysis) results demonstrated that three environmental factors, temperature, longitude and altitude, play a more important role in affecting the microbial community composition of suansun than physical and chemical factors. The fugal community composition was more influenced by environmental factors than the bacterial community. Moreover, the volatile profile of the GD group differed from that of the YN group, and the difference was mainly reflected in the relative contents of alcohols, aldehydes, esters and aromatic compounds. CONCLUSIONS This study provided deep insights into the microbial and metabolic profiles of suansun products. The findings might be useful for the improvement and standardization of suansun production. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.