Fermented foods play important roles in diets worldwide and account for approximately one-third of all foods and beverages consumed. To date, traditional fermentation has used spontaneous fermentation. The microbiome in fermentation has direct impacts on the quality and safety of fermented foods and contributes to the preservation of traditional methods. Here, we used an integrated meta-omics approach to study the microbiome in the fermentation of pu-erh tea, which is a well-known Chinese fermented food with a special flavor and healthful benefits. This study advanced the knowledge of microbiota, metabolites, and enzymes in the fermentation of pu-erh tea. These novel insights shed light onto the complex microbiome in pu-erh fermentation and highlight the power of integrated meta-omics approaches in understanding the microbiome in food fermentation ecosystems.

These results demonstrated that the abated microRNA-195 expression protected mesangial cells from apoptosis, suggesting that the antiapoptosis in a microRNA-regulated manner may play an important role in the early stages of diabetic nephropathy.

The separation of ethyl acetate and ethanol (EtOH) is important but difficult due to their close boiling points and formation of an azeotropic mixture. The separation of the azeotropic mixture of ethyl acetate and EtOH using the hydrophilic ionic liquids (ILs) 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (alkyl = butyl, hexyl, and octyl) ([C n mim]Cl, n = 4, 6, 8) and 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and bromide ([Amim]Cl and [Amim]Br) has been investigated. Triangle phase diagrams of five ILs with ethyl acetate and EtOH were constructed, and the biphasic regions were found as follows:  [Amim]Cl > [Amim]Br > [C4mim]Cl > [C6mim]Cl > [C8mim]Cl. The mechanisms of the ILs including cation, anion, and polarity effect were discussed. The results showed that the hydrophilic ILs [C n mim]Cl (n = 4, 6, 8), [Amim]Br, and [Amim]Cl could remove EtOH effectively from the azeotropic mixture of ethyl acetate and EtOH. Moreover, it was found that [Amim]Cl had the highest extraction efficiency, and the purity of ethyl acetate could reach 99.27 wt % after extraction twice. These hydrophilic ILs are easily synthesized and purified, are economically feasible, and caused no erosion to the equipment, which usually happened for ILs containing F. ILs could be recycled by simple distillation. The separating process can reduce the energy consumption greatly, and the total process is green and environmentally benign.