Succession of endophytic bacterial community and its contribution to cinnamon oil production during cinnamon shade-drying process

•Shade-drying of cinnamon leaves makes great contribution to cinnamon oil production.•Shade-drying process changed the composition of endophytic bacterial community in cinnamon leaves.•The production of cinnamon oil and the evolution of endophytic bacterial community were positive correlated.•Saccharopolyspora has application potential on the improvement of cinnamon oil content. Cinnamon oil is a blend of secondary metabolites and is widely used as spice. Endophytic bacteria are always related to the secondary metabolites production. However, the potential of endophytic bacteria communities for cinnamon oil production during cinnamon shade-drying process is still not clear. In this study, we investigated the composition and metabolic function of endophytic bacterial community during 80-day shade-drying process. The temporal dynamics of essential oil content and its dominant constituents were analyzed. The succession of endophytic bacterial community from d0 to d80 was identified. The influence of endophytic bacterial community evolution on cinnamon oil is significant positive. Predictive functional analysis indicated that shade-drying process was rich in Saccharopolyspora that produce enzymes for the conversion of phenylalanine to cinnamaldehyde. These findings enhance our understanding of the functional bacterial genera and functional genes involved in the production of cinnamon oil during cinnamon shade-drying process.