Integrated molecular approaches for fermented food microbiome research

Molecular technologies, including high-throughput sequencing, have expanded our perception of the microbial world. Unprecedented insights into the composition and function of microbial communities have generated large interest, with numerous landmark studies published in recent years relating the important roles of microbiomes and the environment—especially diet and nutrition—in human, animal, and global health. As such, food microbiomes represent an important cross-over between the environment and host. This is especially true of fermented food microbiomes, which actively introduce microbial metabolites and, to a lesser extent, live microbes into the human gut. Here, we discuss the history of fermented foods, and examine how molecular approaches have advanced research of these fermented foods over the past decade. We highlight how various molecular approaches have helped us to understand the ways in which microbes shape the qualities of these products, and we summarize the impacts of consuming fermented foods on the gut. Finally, we explore how advances in bioinformatics could be leveraged to enhance our understanding of fermented foods. This review highlights how integrated molecular approaches are changing our understanding of the microbial communities associated with food fermentation, the creation of unique food products, and their influences on the human microbiome and health.