Sustainable microbial fermentation of plant Proteins: Potential, biological resources, fermentation mechanisms, applications and challenges in food industry

The increasing global population and the need for sustainable development strategies are driving the demand for alternative food protein resources. Plant proteins may be key in reducing human dependence on animal proteins. For plant-based foods, microbial fermentation improves bioavailability and removes undesirable compounds. During fermentation, the production and release of metabolites and complex enzyme systems contribute to the diversity of hydrolysates. This critical review clarifies the intrinsic relationship between microbial diversity, bioactive peptides and flavor regulation by constructing a visual map of the "fermented plant protein" cluster, sorts out plant protein resources and bacterial metabolic characteristics, explains the fermentation mechanism through the integration of multi-omics technologies, summarizes the challenges of fermented plant protein strain synergy and metabolic regulation, nutritional optimization and safety challenges, production and processing challenges, structure-activity relationship and dynamic interaction, etc., and provides a clear direction for improvement for subsequent research. By optimizing resource conversion efficiency, reducing environmental carbon footprint, and improving protein nutritional functional properties, plant protein fermentation technology not only promotes the green transformation of food production, but also provides innovative solutions to alleviate the structural imbalance of the global protein supply chain, and contributes to the sustainable development of the food security system.