Biodiversity of yeasts, lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid bacteria in the fermentation of “Shanxi aged vinegar”, a traditional Chinese vinegar

► Microorganism diversity in Shanxi aged vinegar was analyzed. ► Phenotypic and genotypic characters of the culturable microorganisms were revealed. ► Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the dominant yeast species in the alcoholic fermentation. ► Seven lactic acid bacteria species were detected in the alcoholic fermentation stage. ► Acetobacter pasteurianus isolates have great phenotypic and genotypic diversity.