Fungal community succession and volatile compound dynamics in Harbin dry sausage during fermentation

This study investigated the fungal community succession and volatile compound dynamics of Harbin dry sausage during a twelve-day fermentation using high-throughput internal transcribed spacer amplicon sequencing and headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Aspergillus pseudoglaucus was found to be the primary species in the sausages during fermentation, whereas Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus caesiellus, and Trichosporon asahii were also prevalent. Additionally, a total of 72 volatile compounds were identified in the dry sausages, of which 24 key compounds (odor activity value > 1) dominated flavor development, including 3 aldehydes, 1 ketone, 4 alcohols, 9 esters, 4 alkenes, and 3 other compounds. Furthermore, correlation analysis suggested that most of the core fungi were positively correlated with the key volatile compounds, particularly A. pseudoglaucus, Aspergillus gracilis, Trichosporon caseorum, Debaryomyces hansenii, and T. asahii. Our findings provide novel insights into the fungal ecology and flavor development of Harbin dry sausages.