Natural Environmental Variation Determines Microbial Diversity Patterns in Serofluid Dish, a Traditional Chinese Fermented Vegetable Food

Serofluid dish is a traditional fermented food that contains rich microbial populations. To gain insight into the environmental variables shaping the microbial diversity patterns, serofluid dish samples were collected from different areas, and 16S rRNA sequencing was performed. Analyses revealed both species and community diversity, including phylotype richness, Shannon index and phylogenetic diversity, were mostly influenced by pH. Additionally, such effects were corroborated by the Mantel test of pairwise UniFrac distances and variable selection of multiple linear regression models. Eventually, correlations between dominant lineages and the pH of serofluid dish other than geographical distance explained a large portion of the changes in microbial composition and diversity. Lactobacillus and related genera, Pediococcus and Acetobacter were largely driven by the variability of pH, and higher richness was observed under moderate pH ranges. Collectively, the results demonstrated that a microbial diversity pattern in serofluid dish is predictable by natural environmental variation and can be better understood through pH conditions.