Microbial and Nonvolatile Chemical Diversities of Chinese Dark Teas Are Differed by Latitude and Pile Fermentation

Understanding the microbial and chemical diversities, as well as what affects these diversities, is important for modernmanufacturing of traditional fermented foods. In this work, Chinese dark teas (CDTs) that are traditional microbial fermentedbeverages with relatively high sample diversity were collected. Microbial DNA amplicon sequencing and mass spectrometry-baseduntargeted metabolomics show that the CDT microbial beta diversity, as well as the nonvolatile chemical alpha and beta diversities, isdetermined by the primary impact factors of geography and manufacturing procedures, in particular, latitude and pile fermentationafter blending. A large number of metabolites sharing between CDTs and fungi were discovered by Feature-based MolecularNetworking (FBMN) on the Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS) web platform. These molecules, suchas prenylated cyclic dipeptides and B-vitamins, are functionally important for nutrition, biofunctions, andflavor. Molecularnetworking has revealed patterns in metabolite profiles on a chemical family level in addition to individual structure