AUTHOR=Wang Hanyu , Su Wei , Mu Yingchun , Zhao Chi 

TITLE=Correlation Between Microbial Diversity and Volatile Flavor Compounds of Suan zuo rou, a Fermented Meat Product From Guizhou, China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.736525

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.736525

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Suan zuo rou</italic> (<italic>SZR</italic>), a traditional fermented meat from Guizhou province, China, is loved by local people for its unique flavor and nutritional value. However, the microbial communities and related flavor characteristics of <italic>SZR</italic> from different regions of Guizhou are unclear. We studied the correlation between the microbial communities and the physicochemical properties and volatile flavor compounds (VFCs) of 15 <italic>SZR</italic> samples from three regions in Guizhou province. The microbial community structure of <italic>SZR</italic> was determined by high-throughput sequencing and VFCs were identified by headspace-solid phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results indicated that the microbial communities of <italic>SZR</italic> varied among the regions, as evidenced by the relative abundance of <italic>Weissella</italic>, <italic>Staphylococcus</italic>, <italic>Brochothrix</italic>, <italic>Kazachstania</italic>, and <italic>Debaryomces</italic>. There were also significant differences in pH, water activity, NaCl, and total volatile basic nitrogen (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05). Based on orthogonal projections to latent structures and Pearson’s correlation coefficient, we showed that <italic>Wickerhamomyces</italic>, <italic>Kazachstania</italic>, <italic>Lactobacillus</italic>, <italic>Weissella</italic>, <italic>Brochothrix</italic>, <italic>Debaryomyces</italic>, <italic>Staphylococcus</italic>, <italic>Pediococcus</italic>, <italic>Pichia</italic>, <italic>Candida</italic>, and <italic>Leuconostoc</italic> were highly correlated with 48 VFCs (| ρ| &gt; 0.8, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05). Redundancy analysis showed that most of the dominant bacteria were positively related to water activity, whereas <italic>Lactobacillus</italic> was positively related with pH, and negatively related with total volatile basic nitrogen.</p>