Microbial ecology of cereal vinegar fermentation: insights for driving the ecosystem function

•Multi-species microbiota drives the natural fermentation of cereal vinegars.•Functional microbiota forms by the self-domestication ability of vinegar ecosystem.•Endogenous functional microbes can augment the vinegar fermentation process.

Over thousands of years, humans have mastered the natural vinegar fermentation technique of cultivating functional microbiota on different raw materials. Functional microbial communities that form reproducibly on non-autoclaved raw materials through repeated batch acetic acid fermentation underpin the flavour development of traditional cereal vinegars. However, how to modulate rationally and optimise the metabolic function of these naturally engineered acidic ecosystems remains unclear. Exploring two key minorities in a vinegar ecosystem, including microbial functions (e.g., flavour and aroma synthesis) and microbial strains, is a crucial step for the vinegar industry to modulate the metabolic function of vinegar microbiota, to monitor the fermentation process, and to maintain the flavour quality of final product.

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