To the best of our knowledge, this was the first study
to investigate fluctuations in microbial communities and
metabolite production simultaneously throughout the entire
doenjang fermentation period. Ours was also the first to use
doenjang-meju of known bacterial community composition in
a study of doenjang fermentation. Here, we suggested that both
doenjang-meju and solar salt sareimportant bacterial sources
in doenjang fermentation. Furthermore,we proposed that
despite their overall abundance, Bacillus may be not as central
to doenjang fermentation as previously assumed. Additionally,
we showed that solar-salt-derived Tetragenococcus appears
to be a primary producer of organic acids and BAs during
doenjang fermentation, suggesting that Tetragenococcus strains
without this ability are usable as starters, in order to reduce
biogenic-amine concentrations. Finally, our results suggested
that Lactobacillus is probably one of the major GABA producers
during doenjang fermentation.In conclusion, this study
contributed to an improved understanding of the biochemical
processes underlying doenjang fermentation through exploring
the functional properties of major doenjang microbial
communities.The data generated should pave the way for
additional research employing “omics” technologies, including
metagenomics, metatranscriptomics ,and metabolomics, which
are certain to provide further insights into the production of safe
and high-quality doenjang