Bacterial and fungal communities of traditional fermented Chinese soybean paste (Doujiang) and their properties

Soybean paste (Doujiang) is one of the traditional fermented foods from China, fermented by various microorganisms. However, the microflora of Doujiang keeps little known. In this study, the microbial communities of seven kinds of representative Doujiang samples were investigated by both culture‐independent and culture‐dependent methods. We found that core OTUs among seven Doujiang samples were mainly from Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Candida, and Aspergillus according to Illumina sequencing. Every type of Doujiang sample harbored a different composition of microbial community. Doujiang LSJ and LBJ had the highest bacterial and fungal richness and diversity, respectively. The structure of microbial community was remarkably correlated with Doujiang properties—pH, and the content of total protein, soluble protein, amino acid, and total sugar (p < .05). Bacillus spp. were most frequently isolated bacterial species. Fungi of Monascus, Candida, and Aspergillus were also isolated. Eleven microbial strains showed high protease activities to degrade corn proteins, which can form obvious transparent hydrolytic circles in corn gluten meal medium plates. Therefore, microbial communities were supposed to tightly connect to Doujiang type and properties. It is possible to apply potential protein‐degrading microbial strains to corn byproducts for protein production in the future study.