A laboratory-scale temporal synthetic microbial community for soy sauce moromi fermentation. Chen et al. 2026 distilled a nine-member candidate set to seven core species and tested delayed inoculation schemes in which Aspergillus oryzae 3.042 made koji, Weissella paramesenteroides WP-8 was added at day 0, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum JL-20 at day 5, Pediococcus pentosaceus PP-11 plus Tetragenococcus halophilus R44 at day 10, and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii ZQ-01 plus Candida orthopsilosis CV-13 at day 25. The best W->L->P+T->Z+C formulation raised glutamic acid, 4-ethylguaiacol, and total volatile production relative to the traditional-fermentation control under homogeneous 40-day laboratory conditions.
Taxonomy
| Taxon | Ontology ID | Functional Roles | Abundance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weissella paramesenteroides WP-8 — ontology label: Weissella paramesenteroides | NCBITaxon:1249 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
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N/A |
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| Lactiplantibacillus plantarum JL-20 — ontology label: Lactiplantibacillus plantarum | NCBITaxon:1590 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
|
N/A |
|
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| Pediococcus pentosaceus PP-11 — ontology label: Pediococcus pentosaceus | NCBITaxon:1255 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
|
N/A |
|
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| Tetragenococcus halophilus R44 — ontology label: Tetragenococcus halophilus | NCBITaxon:51669 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
|
N/A |
|
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| Aspergillus oryzae 3.042 — ontology label: Aspergillus oryzae | NCBITaxon:5062 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
PRIMARY_DEGRADER
|
N/A |
|
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| Zygosaccharomyces rouxii ZQ-01 — ontology label: Zygosaccharomyces rouxii | NCBITaxon:4956 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
|
N/A |
|
|||
| Candida orthopsilosis CV-13 — ontology label: Lodderomyces orthopsilosis | NCBITaxon:273371 · TaxonMech · TraitMech |
SECONDARY_FERMENTER
|
N/A |
|
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Ecological Interactions
The graph shows only explicitly linked interaction participants. Community members without an asserted participant link are omitted; membership alone does not imply an interaction.
Laboratory Soy-Sauce Flavor Outcomes
The selected seven-species treatment had higher reported glutamic acid, 4-ethylguaiacol and total volatile endpoints than the traditional control in the laboratory comparison, with higher alcohol, ester and phenolic levels than the other tested SynCom treatments. These are measured fermentation outcomes, not proof of reduced competition, a universally optimal community or industrial efficacy. The source's ambiguous fold-change wording is not reinterpreted here.
Metabolites: glutamic acid (CHEBI:18237 · MediaIngredientMech · CMMMech), 4-ethylguaiacol (CHEBI:179252 · MediaIngredientMech · CMMMech)
Biological Processes:
- fermentation (GO:0006113 · PathwayMech)
Evidence
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PMID:42195939 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)"After 40 days of fermentation, glutamic acid content in SynCom group W→L→P+T→Z+C reached 8.5 g/L, which was 1.06 times higher than that of the control group."
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PMID:42195939 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)"Concurrently, the 4-EG content and total volatiles reached 71.32 μg/L ( Figure 6 b) and 2855.44 μg/L ( Figure 6 c) in SynCom group W→L→P+T→Z+C, respectively, representing increases of 1.11 times and 1.25 times compared to the control group."
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PMID:42195939 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)"In terms of volatiles, SynCom group W→L→P+T→Z+C exhibited significantly higher levels of alcohols, esters, and phenolic compounds than those in other SynCom groups"
Knowledge gaps & discussions (2)
KNOWLEDGE_GAP OPEN Which temporal inoculation times, ratios, and process controls make the seven-species soy-sauce SynCom robust in industrial moromi systems?
The source reports homogeneous laboratory fermentations and explicitly states that oxygen gradients, uneven salt distribution, and differing aeration regimes in industrial moromi could alter SynCom behavior.
Attaches to: engineering_design#Soy Sauce Temporal Seven-Species SynCom, cultivation_setup#soy sauce moromi mash with temporal SynCom inoculation
1 evidence item(s)
Moreover, soy sauce fermentations in this work were performed under homogeneous lab conditions. Industrial production of soy sauce moromi systems features oxygen gradients, uneven salt distribution, and different aeration regimes, which likely alter SynCom behaviors.
Names the laboratory-scale limitation and the industrial gradients that could alter temporal SynCom behavior.
KNOWLEDGE_GAP OPEN Which ecological mechanisms account for the laboratory flavor differences, and do they transfer beyond the tested setting?
Temporal scheduling and endpoint differences do not by themselves demonstrate niche partitioning or identify a donor-recipient mechanism. The original workflow node and its arrow are removed; measured outcomes remain. The primary conclusion explicitly limits the study to laboratory proof-of-concept. No cultivation or optimization instructions are added. Non-graph abundance/timing metadata remains outside this repair under #1821.
Attaches to: ecological_interactions#Laboratory Soy-Sauce Flavor Outcomes
1 evidence item(s)
Thus, our results should be considered a laboratory-scale proof-of-concept, and pilot-scale validation is required before practical application.
The authors explicitly limit practical transfer of the measured outcomes.
External Resources
| Name | Repository | Resource ID |
|---|---|---|
|
PubMed - Soy sauce temporal seven-species SynCom
PubMed record for the 2026 Foods article describing construction of a seven-species temporal SynCom for soy sauce fermentation. |
OTHER | PMID:42195939 |
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DOI - Soy sauce temporal seven-species SynCom
DOI for the 2026 Foods article describing construction of a temporal seven-species SynCom for soy sauce fermentation. |
OTHER | doi:10.3390/foods15101736 |
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Environmental Factors
| Factor | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| moromi salt concentration | 18 | % w/w salt |
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Growth Media
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