Advances in Beneficial Food Microorganisms: Isolation, Identification, Characterization and Applications: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 563

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, China
Interests: acidic functional polysaccharide biosynthesis; aromatic compounds; food fermentation; metabolic engineering; microbiomes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor Assistant
School of Food Science and Technology, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China
Interests: aromatic compounds; food fermentation; flavor perception

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The first volume of this Special Issue (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/foods/special_issues/65A7M6SPG6) was a great success and gained the attention and interest of many scholars. I extend my thanks to all contributors for their work and support. As this topic continues to play a pivotal role in research, we are looking forward to launching the second volume of this Special Issue.

Microorganisms are indispensable in the food industry, e.g., functional food processing, traditional food fermentation, and food enzyme production. At the same time, microorganisms in food or food processing may possess a particular metabolic pathway that synthesizes significant chemical products, expolysaccharides, aromatic compounds, pigments, etc., thereby showing their potential application for the scale-up biosynthesis of these products. In recent years, research on the isolation, identification, characterization, and application of food microorganisms has undergone rapid development and achieved significant progress through the painstaking efforts of researchers. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to provide a broader perspective of the latest advances in beneficial food microorganisms. We intend to address the following questions: (1) Where can we explore new sources of beneficial food microorganisms? (2) How can we isolate these new microorganisms? (3) How can we identify their functional components? (4) How can we illustrate their functional/beneficial component metabolic pathways? (5) How can we implement the application or potential of beneficial food microorganisms in practice? Methodological advances in all areas of beneficial food microorganisms, from fundamental research to applied research, will be covered. We welcome the submission of original research and review articles on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Microbiomes;
  • Metagenomes;
  • Enzyme engineering;
  • Probiotics;
  • Expolysaccharides;
  • Aromatic compounds;
  • Pigments;
  • Vitamins;
  • Biodegradation;
  • Food fermentation.

Dr. Xiaomin Li
Guest Editor

Dr. Ling Zhang
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microbiomes
  • metagenomes
  • enzyme engineering
  • probiotics
  • expolysaccharides
  • aromatic compounds
  • pigments
  • vitamins
  • biodegradation
  • food fermentation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 19381 KB  
Article
Insights into Microbial and Metabolite Profiles in Traditional Northern Thai Fermented Soybean (Tuanao) Fermentation Through Metagenomics and Metabolomics
by Sivamoke Dissook, Patcharawadee Thongkumkoon, Pitiporn Noisagul, Chanenath Sriaporn, Sirikunlaya Suwannapat, Weeraya Pramoonchakko, Manida Suksawat, Thanaporn Kulthawatsiri, Jutarop Phetcharaburanin, Teera Chewonarin and Jetsada Ruangsuriya
Foods 2025, 14(17), 3070; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14173070 - 30 Aug 2025
Viewed by 371
Abstract
Tuanao, a traditional Northern Thai fermented soybean product, was profiled with an integrated multi-omics workflow to clarify how microbes and metabolites co-evolve during household fermentation. Soybeans were fermented spontaneously for three days; samples from four time points were analyzed by shotgun metagenomics alongside [...] Read more.
Tuanao, a traditional Northern Thai fermented soybean product, was profiled with an integrated multi-omics workflow to clarify how microbes and metabolites co-evolve during household fermentation. Soybeans were fermented spontaneously for three days; samples from four time points were analyzed by shotgun metagenomics alongside 1H-NMR and UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS metabolomics. Bacillus spp. (phylum Bacilliota) quickly supplanted early Enterobacterales and dominated the mature microbiome. The rise of Bacillus coincided with genes for peptide and carbohydrate utilization and with the accumulation of acetate, free amino acids (glutamine, leucine, alanine, valine) and diverse oligopeptides, whereas citrate and glucose-1-phosphate were depleted. This Bacillus-linked metabolic shift indicates that Tuanao is a promising source of probiotics and bioactive compounds. Our study provides the first system-level view of Tuanao fermentation and offers molecular markers to guide starter-culture design and quality control. Full article
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