Effect of Lactobacillus plantarum 1243 fermentation on quality properties and metabolome of Aronia melanocarpa (Michx .) elliott juice

Abstract

Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott is rich in bioactive compounds, but its poor sensory properties limit its acceptance and further utilization. This study examined Lactobacillus plantarum 1243 fermentation impact on fermented A. melanocarpa juice (FAJ)'s quality properties, flavor profile, and metabolites. Bacterial growth peaked then declined, increasing acidity while lowering pH. Total phenolics, flavonoids, and sugars decreased, but DPPH activity remained stable. Sensory scores improved for color and acceptability. Flavor profiling revealed increases in aromatic compounds, benzene derivatives, aliphatic aromatics, and methyl compounds, enriching FAJ's characteristic aroma. Metabolomic analysis identified significant alterations between 0 and 48 h, particularly in organic acids, phenolic acids, and anthocyanins, suggesting improved bioavailability. Increased levels of catechol, flavonoids, and dimethyl fumarate were associated with enhanced bioactivity. These findings indicate that fermentation with L. plantarum 1243 can effectively enhance the flavor, nutritional profile, and functional properties of FAJ.

Keywords: Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott; Flavor profile; Lactobacillus plantarum 1243; Metabolites; Quality properties.

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1

VCC (A), total sugar (TSC)(B), pH and TA (C) in AJ during fermentation. The different letters indicate statistically significant differences in the results (P < 0.05).

Fig. 2

Content of total phenol (A), total flavonoid (B), DPPH radical scavenging activity (C) in FAJ. Each data is the mean of three replicate samples. The different letters indicate statistically significant differences in the results (p < 0.05).

Fig. 3

The color properties and sensory quality of FAJ. (A) The colorimetric values of L* (B) The colorimetric values of a* (C) The colorimetric values of b* (D) The sensory evaluation of AJ during fermentation. Different letters indicated the significant level (p < 0.05).

Fig. 4

E-nose data of AJ at different fermentation times. (A) Radar plot (B) PCA plot (C) LDA plot (D) Loading analysis plot.

Fig. 5

Classification, clustering heatmaps, PCA and OPLS-DA score plots of metabolites. (A) Classification and composition of the 4630 metabolites of the unfermented juice (FAJ-0) and juice fermented for 48 h (FAJ-48). (B) and (C) The heatmap cluster of the FAJ-0 and FAJ-48 in positive and negative ion modes, respectively. The redder the color, the higher the content; and the greener the color, the lower the content. (D) PCA scores of different groups juice of metabolites in two-dimensional graph. (E) Plots of OPLS-DA scores for different groups of metabolites.

Fig. 6

Metabolite OPLS-DA analysis of S plot and differential metabolite clustering heat map, volcano map and K-menas analysis results. (A) The differential metabolites heatmap between FAJ-0 and FAJ-48. (B) S-plot based on OPLS-DA. (C) Differential metabolite volcanic map between FAJ-0 and FAJ-48. (D) K-Means plot of differential metabolites.

Fig. 7

The KEGG pathway of FAJ. (A) Classification map of differential metabolite pathways. (B) The top 20 metabolite pathways. The top 15 increased (C) and decreased (D) metabolite pathways. The metabolite pathways were rank by P-value from small to large. The color of the points reflects the size of the P-value, with purple indicating more significant enrichment. The size of the points represents the number of differential metabolites that were enriched. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)