TY - JOUR

T1 - Exploring the microbial diversity of novel misos with metagenomics

AU - Kothe, Caroline Isabel

AU - Rasmussen, Jacob Agerbo

AU - Mak, Sarah S. T.

AU - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.

AU - Evans, Joshua

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Interest in fermented foods, especially plant-based ones, has increased considerably in the last decade. Miso—a Japanese paste traditionally fermented with soybeans, salt, and kōji (Aspergillus oryzae grown on grains or beans)—has gained attention among chefs for its rich flavour and versatility. Some chefs have even been experimenting with making novel misos with untraditional substrates to create new flavours. Such novel fermented foods also offer new scientific opportunities. To explore the microbial diversity of these new traditional foods, we sampled six misos made by the team at a leading restaurant called Noma in Copenhagen (Denmark), using yellow peas (including a nixtamalised treatment), lupin seeds, Swedish Vreta peas, grey peas, and Gotland lentils as substrates. All misos were made with the same recipe and fermented for 3 months at 28 °C. Samples were collected at the end of fermentation for subsequent shotgun metagenomic sequencing and a genome-resolved metagenomic analysis. The taxonomic profile of the samples revealed the presence of kōji mould (A. oryzae) and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in all misos. Various species of the genera Latilactobacillus, Lactiplantibacillus, Pediococcus and Staphylococcus were also detected. The Metagenome-Assembled Genomes (MAGs) revealed genomic sequences belonging to 12 different species and functional analyses of these MAGs were performed. Notably, we detected the presence of Exiguobacterium—the first reported instance of the genus in miso—and Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) analyses suggest a potentially new species. We hope these results will improve the scientific literature on misos and contribute to developing novel fermented plant-based foods.

AB - Interest in fermented foods, especially plant-based ones, has increased considerably in the last decade. Miso—a Japanese paste traditionally fermented with soybeans, salt, and kōji (Aspergillus oryzae grown on grains or beans)—has gained attention among chefs for its rich flavour and versatility. Some chefs have even been experimenting with making novel misos with untraditional substrates to create new flavours. Such novel fermented foods also offer new scientific opportunities. To explore the microbial diversity of these new traditional foods, we sampled six misos made by the team at a leading restaurant called Noma in Copenhagen (Denmark), using yellow peas (including a nixtamalised treatment), lupin seeds, Swedish Vreta peas, grey peas, and Gotland lentils as substrates. All misos were made with the same recipe and fermented for 3 months at 28 °C. Samples were collected at the end of fermentation for subsequent shotgun metagenomic sequencing and a genome-resolved metagenomic analysis. The taxonomic profile of the samples revealed the presence of kōji mould (A. oryzae) and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in all misos. Various species of the genera Latilactobacillus, Lactiplantibacillus, Pediococcus and Staphylococcus were also detected. The Metagenome-Assembled Genomes (MAGs) revealed genomic sequences belonging to 12 different species and functional analyses of these MAGs were performed. Notably, we detected the presence of Exiguobacterium—the first reported instance of the genus in miso—and Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) analyses suggest a potentially new species. We hope these results will improve the scientific literature on misos and contribute to developing novel fermented plant-based foods.

KW - Fermentation

KW - MAG

KW - Metagenomics

KW - Miso

KW - Plant-based

U2 - 10.1016/j.fm.2023.104372

DO - 10.1016/j.fm.2023.104372

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37919016

AN - SCOPUS:85170419921

VL - 117

JO - Food Microbiology

JF - Food Microbiology

SN - 0740-0020

M1 - 104372

ER -