Fine Resolution Analysis of Microbial Communities Provides Insights Into the Variability of Cocoa Bean Fermentation.

ABSTRACT: Cocoa bean fermentation is an important microbial process, where most metabolites that affect chocolate quality and aroma are generated. Production of reproducible high-quality beans is a major challenge because most fermentations occur in open containers with a lack of variable control. Here we present a study that aims to identify the effect of farm protocols, climate, and bean mass exposure, in the dynamics and composition of microbial communities. Using high-throughput sequencing of molecular markers for bacteria and yeasts, complemented with culture-based methods, we evaluated the microbial diversity and dynamics associated to spontaneous cocoa fermentation in two distinct agro-ecological zones in Colombia. The bacterial communities were classified at two levels of evolutionary relati

SUBMITTER: Pacheco-Montealegre ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7174660 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature