Pyrosequencing scrutiny of bacterial and fungal communities in two Sudanese sorghum-based fermented foods

Purpose Several fermented foods are produced from sorghum flour in Africa, especially in the dryland regions where it is the principal crop. It is important to explore the microbial communities in these foods to improve their quality and organoleptic properties. In this study, the bacterial and fungal communities of two popular sorghum-based fermented foods in Sudan (kisra and hulumur) were analyzed, for the first time, using a culture-independent method of next-generation sequencing. Methods Fermented doughs for kisra and hulumur production were prepared according to the traditional approach, and then the bacterial and fungal communities were investigated using high-throughput sequencing. Results Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phyla were the predominant bacteria in both fermented doughs. At the genus level, the bacterial community was dominated by lactic acid bacteria, primarilyLactobacillusandPediococcus, which represented 95.7% and 72% of the bacterial population in kisra and hulumur, respectively. Next, acetic acid bacteria (GluconobacterandAcetobacter) were subdominant in hulumur. The fungal community was more heterogeneous among the fermented doughs. Zygomycota (85.5%) comprised the major phylum in kisra fermented dough, whereas Ascomycota (99.5%) was predominant in hulumur. The major fungal genera,Rhizopus,Alternaria,Penicillium,Gibberella,Lasiodiplodia, andAspergillus, were extremely varied between the fermented doughs. Conclusion Exploration of kisra and hulumur microbial community structure will expand the knowledge about their microbiota to manipulate the microbial community and improve their quality and organoleptic properties using different microbial recipes.