A simple and novel biomarker panel for serofluid dish rapid quality and safety assessment based on gray relational analysis.

Serofluid dish is a fermented vegetable food in northwest China and contains abundant microbes, whereas accurate characterization of the representative microorganisms and fast quality assessment are still unresolved. Here, metagenomic sequencing and quantitative PCR were performed to assess the microbiome and quality. Results demonstrated that Lactobacillus and Acetobacter were the leading genera, and microbiome-derived genes were mostly annotated to carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism pathways, based on which a panel containing Lactobacillus , Acetobacter , Enterobacter and pH was proposed for quality evaluation. Then comprehensive model of quality was established based on gray relational analysis (GRA) and qPCR was applied to achieve fast detection of biomarkers. Finally, the model of rapid quality assessment was validated on an independent sample set. Collectively, precise analysis of microbial composition, function annotation and fast evaluation method are of vital importance to control food quality and safety, thus catalyzing the industrial development of serofluid dish. [Display omitted] • Lactobacillus and Acetobacter were the leading genera in serofluid dish. • A panel containing Lactobacillus , Acetobacter , Enterobacter and pH was proposed for quality evaluation of serofluid dish. • Quality assessment model based on GRA model was established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]