Fermentation microbiome and metabolic profiles of Indian palm wine

Fermented food and beverages provide huge benefits to humans. The nutritionally rich palm wine (toddy) is a popular fermented beverage in India. The present study reveals the bacterial diversity and metabolic profile of Indian palm wine using next-generation sequencing of the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene. The meta-genomic sequencing reveals the dominance of the phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Tenericutes in the Indian palm wine. Bacteria such as Acetobacter, Lactobacillus, Candidatus phytoplasma, and Gluconobacter were abundant in palm wine. The sequence-based metagenomics approach revealed that Acetobacter sp. and Lactobacilli sp., which are beneficial bacteria, were the most predominant microbial populations in the Indian palm wine. The metabolic functional profile of the palm wine microbiome was studied based on gene ontology terms to identify industrial by-products and bio-prospecting genes. Metabolic profiling revealed that a major microbial population was involved in ammonia oxidation, sulfate reduction, nitrite reduction, atrazine metabolization, and acid production. The results can aid in developing probiotics from palm wine for human consumption with a multitude of health benefits.