Correlation between the bacterial community and flavour of fermented fish

Common carp is a fish species of economic importance in China; traditionally it is mostly salt-fermented. In the fermenting process, the bacterial community of spontaneously fermented fish is important for its flavour and quality. However, very few studies have been conducted about the relationship between bacterial community and development of flavour involved in the salt-fermentation of carp. Therefore, we explored this relationship by determining the flavour components, including amino acids, and changes in volatile flavour and bacterial metabolite. Samples were taken during fermentation on the days 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. The second-generation 16S recom-binant DNA (rDNA) sequencing was performed to analyze the composition of bacteria. Contents of amino acids were determined by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography combined with ultraviolet detection. The volatile components were analyzed with solid-phase microextraction–gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, and Staphylococcus were the dominant bacteria. The bidirectional orthogonal partial least squares approach was used to analyze the correlation between bacterial succession and flavour component dynamics. This study would help to better understand the role of bacteria in the fermented fish meat flavour and support the industrial production of fermented fish.