Abstract: Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing technology was used to study the structure, abundance and dynamic succession of the bacterial community in Pixian bean paste during the fermentation process. A total of 731 188 effective sequences were obtained, which were classified into 11 phyla (Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chlorobi, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Fusobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria and Deferribacteres) and unclassified bacteria, and these were assigned into 37 082 operational taxonomic units?(OTUs). The results showed that the bacterial community richness in Pixian bean paste was high. The species and quantities of bacteria were changed with environmental change and fermentation time. The bacterial community abundance of sample peijiao (three-month fermented hot pepper) was largely different from that of samples from five other processing stages (BZ1Y, BZ5Y, BZ10Y, HE1Y and HE5Y). Our data proved high bacterial diversity in Pixian bean paste and some novel microbial species, which need further identification. High-throughput bacterial genome sequencing revealed the presence of a total of 185 genera with the predominance of Staphylococcus, Weissella, Pediococcus, Lactobacillus, Corynebacterium and Bacillus during the entire fermentation process, which played an important role in flavor formation of Pixian bean paste.

Key words: Pixian bean paste, fermentation process, bacterial community, dynamic analysis, high-throughput sequencing