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Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play a significant role in food industry and artisan fermented-food. Most of the applicable LABs were commonly obtained from natural fermented food or human gut. And Lactobacillus plantarum NCU116 was screened from a LAB-dominated traditional Chinese sauerkraut (TCS). In order to comprehend the interaction between NCU116 and its environments, comparative genomics were performed to identify genes involved in extracellular protein biosynthesis and secretion. Four secretory pathways were identified, including Sec and FPE pathways, holins and efflux ABC transporter system. Then 348 potential secretory proteins were identified, including 11 alpha-amylases responsible for degradation of macromolecules, and 8 mucus binding proteins which attribute to adherence to intestine epithelium. Besides, EPS clusters of NCU116 (EPS116) were identified and analyzed by comparing to other strains, which suggested a novel genotype of EPS clusters. These findings could be critical to extend the application of NCU116 in food and pharmaceuticals industries.

The laser welding of DC 04 low carbon steel to a 6016 aluminum alloy was realized by fiber laser with an orthogonal design. The weld bead features were analyzed microscopically, and the intermetallic layers at the Fe-Al interface were investigated by SEM-EDS. The results showed that “island-shaped solute” with relatively high aluminum content appeared regardless of changes in the experimental conditions. The aluminum content decreased with an increase in the distance between the measuring point and the aluminum-welding interface, and exhibited strong fluctuations adjacent to the aluminum-weld interface. The gap between the iron and aluminum induced the formation of cracks which grew along the intermetallic layer. According to a range analysis, it is proved that welding velocity has the most significant impact on the quality of weld joints. Meanwhile, by a mechanical-strength test, it is proved that the welding joints of an iron-aluminum dissimilar metal failed along the brittle intermetallic phases.

Chinese jiang-shui is fermented food without salt. In consideration of the few studies of the bacterial community and dynamics of jiang-shui fermentation, the aim of this study was to investigate the microbial diversity and dynamics of jiang-shui fermentation using high-throughput sequencing (HTS), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and the culture-dependent method. RESULTS The culture-dependent method showed that pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and Escherichia coli) and yeast mainly existed in the early stage and lactic acid bacteria dominated until the end stage. HTS and DGGE revealed that Serratia marcescens, Serratia sp., Lactobacillus curvatus, Lactococcus lactis, uncultured bacterium and Bacillus thuringiensis started the fermentation, followed by the middle stage with Lactococcus lactis, Weissella sp. and Bacillus arthracis as the predominant species. The end stage was characterized with Lactobacillus pentosus, Weissella cibaria and Weissella sp. as the major bacteria. CONCLUSIONS The results showed that genera Serratia, Lactococcus, Weissella and Lactobacillus dominated the whole process of jiang-shui fermentation. This study provided a good analysis of the bacterial changes of jiang-shui fermentation, and future studies should consider the relationships among the sensory characteristics, microbial communities and metabolites. ? 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

This study aimed to understand and establish changes in the physicochemical properties of yam powder with different processing methods, and select a suitable method for use in the developme...

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 high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC-MS), 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 and YN groups. For the fungi, Pichia, Candida, and Debaryomyces were the major genera in the GD group, whereas Pichia and Zygosaccharomyces were the dominant genera in the YN group. The canonical correlation analysis (CCA) 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. The volatile profile of the GD group differed from that of the YN group, and the difference was mainly reflected in the relative alcohol, aldehyde, ester, and aromatic compound content. Conclusions This study provided insights into the microbial and metabolic profiles of suansun products. The findings might be useful for the improvement and standardization of suansun production. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

A Wet-milling process for isolation of starch from red sorghum grains was optimized in this paper. A method combining a Plackett-Burman design (PBD), the steepest ascent method, and a Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to evaluate the effects of major treatment process variables, including the soaking solid-liquid ratio, NaOH concentration, soaking temperature, soaking time, stirring rate, ultrasonic power, milling solid-liquid ratio, milling time and milling rate, on the starch isolation. The response value was a composite value (that is, the sum) of starch yield and sorghum peeling rate. Soaking temperature, soaking time and milling time were significant factors. The conditions of adjusting the temperature of soaking to 50 °C, soaking time to 36 min and milling time to 8 min and 10 s would favor maximum response value obtainment. A mathematical model with high determination coefficient (R2 = 0.9825) was developed and showed good consistency between the experimental values (149.26%) and predicted values (148.87%), which indicated the suitability of the developed model. Starch with high yield (54.58%) and satisfactory color was obtained from red sorghum after optimization.

Guangxi Suansun (Guangxi SS) and Guangxi Suancai (Guangxi SC) are two kinds of traditionally fermented vegetables consumed as cooking ingredients in Guangxi Province, China, for thousands of years. However, little is known about their microbial communities as well as the differences between them. Thus, this study was aimed to investigate and compare the physicochemical indexes as well as the bacterial and fungal profiles of Guangxi SS and Guangxi SC. Results showed that the titratable acidity, lactic acid and acetic acid content in SS were significantly higher than those in SC, while the salinity of SS was significantly lower than that in SC, and the nitrite contents in all samples were are far lower than the limit of nitrite contents in fermented vegetables. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the main phyla observed in both SS and SC samples. Lactobacillus, Serratia, Stenotrophomonas and Lactococcus were the major bacterial genera in both SS and SC samples, the predominant fungal genera in SS group were Kazachstania, Debaryomyces and Pichia, while the major genera in SC group were Kazachstania, Debaryomyces and Nakaseomyces. At the species level, Lactobacillus acetotolerans, Pichia kudriavzevii, Debaryomyces hansenii, Pichia norvegensis, Kazachstania exigua and Kazachstania humilis were the major species observed in SS, while L. delbrueckii, L. fermentum, L. aviarius, and Pichia kudriavzevii and Debaryomyces hansenii were the predominant species in SC. Salinity was found to be more strongly correlated to the bacterial and fungal communities of both SS and SC than other physicochemical factors (pH, the titratable acidity, lactic acid and acetic acid content). This study provided detailed insight into the microbial communities of Guangxi SS and Guangxi SC, and the findings may help understand the microbial structures of Chinese traditional fermented vegetables.

Genetic stability of bacterium as a starter culture is vital for product quality in fermentation industry. The commercial strain Lactobacillus plantarum NCU116 widely used in fruit and vegetable fermentation was induced with various stressors to investigate the stability of potential prophages. PHAge Search Tool (PHAST) identified three potential prophages in bacterial genome. By spectrophotometric analysis, mitomycin C (MMC), lactic acid, and bile salt were found to inhibit the growth of L. plantarum NCU116 while ethanol and hydrogen peroxide had no notable impacts. Transcriptions of four phage-synthesizing genes (phaR, phacap, phaada, phatail) and four phage-resistant genes (cas116, helR, hsd1, hsd2) under stressors were investigated by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. MMC was found to most significantly upregulated transcriptions of phage-synthesizing genes, followed by lactic acid and bile salt. By transmission electron microscopy, no virus particles from the lysates of strain NCU116 treated by MMC were observed, corresponding to the result that no phage nucleic acids could be extracted from the supernatants of strain NCU116 treated by MMC. This study suggested that no prophages could be induced from L. plantarum NCU116 by strong inducer MMC, indicating its genetic stability, which supports the comprehensive application of strain NCU116 in industry without causing fermentation failure.

The aim of the study was to determine the effects of salt concentration on traditional sauerkraut fermented spontaneously. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), fungi and Escherichia coli (E. coli) in the brine were analyzed in the three kinds of sauerkraut. The contents of sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose) and organic acids (lactic acid, acetic acid) in the brine and inside the cabbage were monitored by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In addition, the pH value was monitored in the brine. Results demonstrated that sucrose and glucose were consumed and fructose was accumulated gradually during fermentation. The whole fermentation process was dominated by LAB and a considerable accumulation of lactic acid was observed both in cabbage and brine at the end of fermentation. Salt concentration had a significant effect on sauerkraut fermentation at early stage. The LAB population and metabolic rate was reduced and the yield of lactic acid decreased with the increase of salt concentration. Suitable salt concentration can effectively inhibit the reproduction of fungi and E. coli. In comparison, high salt concentration delayed the maturation of sauerkraut and inhibited the metabolism of LAB.