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This study examines the impact of the complex microbiota from long-term fermented kimchi, used as a backslop, on fermentation dynamics. The fermentation was conducted with autoclaved (group A) and non-autoclaved (NA) starter cultures. Bacterial and fungal communities were analyzed with 16S rRNA gene V4 and ITS2 region, respectively, and metabolites were profiled using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In the group NA, Levilactobacillus dominated at 64.3 % by day 5, while Pediococcus reached 57.4 % by day 50. Principal coordinate analysis showed that bacterial communities in both the starter culture and samples of the group NA became similar by the end of the fermentation (day 100); however, no significant differences were found in fungal community. Principal component analysis revealed distinct metabolite profiles, explaining 68.7 % of variability on PC1, with each group clustered separately by day 100. These results suggest that inoculating with microbiota from long-term fermentation can rapidly produce foods with desirable characteristics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

• We investigated the origin source of fermentative microbes of kimchi. • The dominant fermentative microbial taxa differed according to the raw ingredients. • Not all ingredients carried the microbes capable of processing kimchi fermentation. • The origin-reflexed microbial community assembly led to distinct metabolic phenotypes. Fermented foods constitute hubs of microbial consortia differentially affecting nutritional and organoleptic properties, quality, and safety. Here we show the origin source of fermentative microbes and fermentation dynamics of kimchi. We partitioned microbiota by raw ingredient (kimchi cabbage, garlic, ginger, and red pepper) to render kimchi fermented by each source-originated microbe pool and applied multi-omics (metataxonomics and metabolomics), bacterial viability, and physiochemical analyses to longitudinally collected samples. Only kimchi cabbage- and garlic-derived microbial inoculums yielded successful kimchi fermentations. The dominant fermentative microbial taxa and subsequent metabolic outputs differed by raw ingredient type: the genus Leuconostoc , Weissella , and Lactobacillus for all non-sterilized ingredients, garlic, and kimchi cabbage, respectively. Gnotobiotic kimchi inoculated by mono-, di-, and tri- isolated fermentative microbe combinations further revealed W. koreensis -mediated reversible microbial metabolic outputs. The results suggest that the raw ingredient microbial habitat niches selectively affect microbial community assembly patterns and processes during kimchi fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]