Comparative Metagenomics Reveals Microbial Communities and Their Associated Functions in Two Types of Fuzhuan Brick Tea

Abstract

Fuzhuan brick tea (FBT) is a unique post-fermented tea product, naturally co-fermented by microorganisms, and has gained global popularity due to its potential health benefits for humans. Considerable efforts have been made toward elucidating the microbial diversity within FBT, but an understanding of the underlying FBT community interactions and functions remains poorly studied. Consequently, the microbial communities of two types of FBT, originating from Hunan and Shaanxi provinces, were investigated using comparative shotgun metagenomic sequencing and functional annotations. Metagenomic analysis indicated that two communities shared similar taxonomic and functional attributes. Two samples shared 486 genera, in which Pseudomonas contributed most to the abundant functions within the two samples. The carbohydrate active enzyme functions of the communities primarily comprised GH (32.92%), GT (26.8%), CEs (20.43%), and AAs (18.04%). Furthermore, the overall metabolic pathways encoded by the metagenomes were largely associated with carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, with nine metabolic pathways that were differential between two groups including penicillin and cephalosporin biosynthesis. Significantly, a total of 35 potential probiotics were inferred, with Pseudomonas putida being the most abundant inferred probiotic (80%) within the FBT communities. This study provides new insights into FBT microbial communities on their potential functions and roles in FBT characteristics.

Microbial Succession and Interactions During the Manufacture of Fu Brick Tea

“…Moreover, a recent study has found that Bacillus correlated with 44 metabolites of Fu Brick tea, highlighting the importance of Bacillus in manufacturing Fu Brick tea (Xia et al, 2022 ). Although Pseudomonas were not significantly changed between different manufacturing stages in our study, they were revealed by metagenomic methods as the most important bacteria associated with 35 probiotics in Fu Brick tea (Wang et al, 2021 ). Other dominant bacteria, such as Paenibacillus , were reported to be one of the key microbes in the manufacture of other traditionally fermented foods, including Pu'er tea (Oh et al, 2008 ; Kim et al, 2009 ; Zhao et al, 2015 ).…”

Study on the Trend in Microbial Changes during the Fermentation of Black Tea and Its Effect on the Quality

“…Moreover, the genera Sphingomonas, Chryseobacterium, and Aureimonas have been correlated with kaempferol, theaflavins, thearubigins, and theabrownins. Although there are few studies on the biotransformation of tea quality components by endophytic bacteria, some research has suggested that microorganisms secrete polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase during fermentation to promote the biotransformation of tea components [32], which forms the basis for the formation of black tea quality, flavor, and physiological functions. Additionally, there have been preliminary explorations of the biotransformation of tea polyphenols, such as a study that found the use of fungal-derived laccase and fresh tea-derived polyphenol oxidase can catalyze the conversion of catechins into complex polyphenolic compounds [33].…”

Chemical components of Fu brick tea and its potential preventive effects on metabolic syndrome

“…In addition to polysaccharides, FBT is also rich in small molecule secondary metabolites, mainly including flavane‐3‐alcohols, noisoprene, acylated flavonoid glycosides, and triterpenes. Some compounds show good biological activity (Chen, Li, et al., 2021 ; Kong et al., 2019 ; Lu et al., 2019 ; Park et al., 2022 ; Wang, Du, et al., 2021 ; Zhou et al., 2022 ).…”