Shotgun metagenomic analysis of microbiota dynamics during long-term backslopping fermentation of traditional fermented milk in a controlled laboratory environment

This study aimed to apply ultra-high-depth metagenomic sequencing to track the variations at both inter- and intra-population levels, representing macrodiversity and microdiversity, respectively, as well as the functional-level changes in naturally fermented milk microbiomes during a nine-month continuous fermentation process using the backslopping technique.