Insights into the relationships among the formation of biogenic amines, microbiota composition using a culture‐independent method, and metabolic potential in chill‐stored Scomber japonicus

Abstract

SummaryFish spoilage is significantly influenced by the microbiota composition, in which the specific spoilage organisms are the main factors. In this article, we used the 16S rRNA V3–V4 hypervariable areas of bacteria to assess the microbial community and metabolic function of Scomber japonicus during storage at 4 °C for 9 days. The physicochemical and microbiological indices including total viable counts (TVC), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB‐N) and biogenic amines (BAs) were determined. Observations revealed that TVC, TVB‐N and BAs content dramatically increased over the storage, TVB‐N, histamine, cadaverine and tyramine content reached 54.18 mg/100 g, 621.26, 190.93 and 57.48 mg kg−1, respectively, at the end of storage. The decrease of alpha diversity indicated the decrease of microbial community plenty and diversity. Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter and Moraxellaceae unclassified occupied the dominant position during storage. The accumulation of histamine and cadaverine correlated positively with Pseudomonas and Brochothrix while negatively with Acinetobacter, Arthrobacter and Flavobacterium. Putrescine production and Photobacterium showed a strong favourable association. Amino acid metabolism and glucose metabolism were the two primary metabolic routes during the storage of S. japonicus, according to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Overall, this study explored the interrelationships among the microbial community, functional metabolisms and spoilage characteristics during the storage of S. japonicus, which aimed to identify the specific spoilage organisms and help to deepen the understanding of roles that this microbiota played during spoilage.