High salinity is an effective measure to preserve kelp, but salted kelp can still deteriorate after long-term preservation. In order to clarify the key conditions and microbial behavior of salted kelp preservation, 10% (S10), 20% (S20), and 30% (S30) salt concentrations were evaluated at 25 °C (T25) and 4 °C (T4). After 30 days storage, these salted kelps showed different states including rot (T25S10), softening (T25S20), and undamaged (other samples). By detecting polysaccharide lyase activity and performing high-throughput sequencing of the prokaryotic 16S rRNA sequence and metagenome, we found that deteriorated kelps (T25S10 and T25S20) had significantly higher alginate lyase activity and bacterial relative abundance than other undamaged samples. Dyella, Saccharophagus, Halomonas, Aromatoleum, Ulvibacter, Rhodopirellula, and Microbulbifer were annotated with genes encoding endonuclease-type alginate lyases, while Bacillus and Thiobacillus were annotated as the exonuclease type. Additionally, no alginate lyase activity was detected in undamaged kelps, whose dominant microorganisms were halophilic archaea without alginate lyase-encoding genes. These results indicated that room-temperature storage may promote salted kelp deterioration due to the secretion of bacterial alginate lyase, while ultra-high-salinity and low-temperature storage can inhibit bacterial alginate lyase and promote the growth of halophilic archaea without alginate lyase, thus achieving the preservation of salted kelp.

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Inner Mongolian cheese is a traditional dairy product in China. It is produced without rennet, using naturally acidified milk that is simmered to achieve whey separation. In order to analyse the impact of simmering on the microbial community structure, high-throughput sequencing was performed to obtain bacterial 16S rRNA sequences from cheeses from the Ordos (ES), Ulanqab (WS), Horqin (KS) and Xilingol (XS) grasslands of Inner Mongolia. The relative abundance of an unexpected microorganism, Thermus thermophilus, ranged from 2% to 9%, which meant that its dominance was second only to that of lactic acid bacteria (LABs). Genome sequencing and fermentation validation were performed in T. thermophilus N-1 isolated from the Ordos, and it was determined that T. thermophilus N-1 could ingest and metabolise lactose in milk to produce lactate during the simmering process. T. thermophilus N-1 could also produce acetate, propionate, citrate and other organic acids through a unique acetate production pathway and a complete propionate production pathway and TCA cycle, which may affect texture and flavour development in Inner Mongolian cheese. Simultaneously, the large amount of citrate produced by T. thermophilus N-1 provides a necessary carbon source for continuous fermentation by LABs after the simmering step. Therefore, T. thermophilus N-1 contributes to cheese fermentation as a predominant, thermophilic, assistant starter microorganism unique to Chinese Inner Mongolian cheese.