Bacteria and fungi on baby spinach leaves at harvest, after processing, and through storage Metagenome

This longitudinal study aimed to deepen our understanding of how the various growing, processing, and storage practices can influence changes in the bacterial and fungal communities on baby spinach, including proliferation of spoilage-causing microorganisms. From December 2021-2022, 269 total baby spinach sample replicates (2 replicates/sample) were obtained from a single supply chain at various stages of the produce supply chain (i.e., after harvest, after commercial washing and packaging, and at four timepoints during postharvest storage) were analyzed using 16S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing to assess changes in the bacterial and fungal microbiota present on the leaves.

本项纵向研究旨在深化对各类种植、加工与贮藏操作如何影响嫩菠菜（baby spinach）表面细菌与真菌群落变化（包括致腐微生物增殖情况）的认知。2021年12月至2022年期间，研究团队从同一条农产品供应链的多个环节采集了共269份嫩菠菜样本重复样（每份样本设2个生物学重复），具体涵盖采收后、商业清洗与包装后，以及采后贮藏的四个时间节点；随后采用16S核糖体RNA（16S rRNA）与内转录间隔区（ITS）扩增子测序技术对样本进行分析，以评估菠菜叶片表面细菌与真菌微生物群的动态变化。