Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the structure and diversity of microbial communities in traditional spontaneously fermented sticky bean bun dough samples collected from different households in Heilongjiang province by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophorese (PCR-DGGE). The results showed that the dominant bacterial species identified in the samples of sticky bean bun dough were Weissella cibaria, W. confuse, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus reuteri and Lactococcus lactis as well as uncultured bacteria and the dominant yeast species were Candida zeylanoides, Pichia caribbica, Guehomyces pullulans and uncultured saccharomycete. The microbial community structure of sticky bean bun dough was related to its ingredients. The findings from this study can provide theoretical support for improving the quality of sticky bean bun, developing special starter cultures, and realizing large-scale automatic production of sticky bean bun.

Key words: sticky bean bun, polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE), microorganisms