Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and alcohols generated from acidogenic processes are valuable bioresources. However, how the diversity of acidogenic microorganisms and environmental factors affect their generation are still poorly understood. In this study, 18 different inocula and 42 sludges from acidogenic lab-scale reactors were collected to analyze the microbial communities and their metabolic potential using 16S rRNA genes high throughput sequencing coupled with PICRUSt2. 23 out of 30732 distinctive amplicon sequence variants were identified as the core features and 34.8% of them (e.g., Clostridium spp.) were positively correlated with the generation of the most common product acetate. PICRUSt2 shows that an average of 27% of predicted fermentation-pathway genes was assigned to the core features, suggesting their crucial roles in acidogenesis. From the network aspect, the acidogenic network had a slightly higher number of nodes (12%), but significantly lower numbers of edges (109%) and neighbors (132%) compared with the inoculum network. A total of 28 independent subnetworks from large to small scales were extracted from the acidogenic network. The decentralized distribution of core features in these subnetworks emphasized their non-co-occurring relationships. The electrode potential was the most significant environmental variable (48.2–49.3% of the explanation), positively affecting the distribution of more than 50% of the core features and fermentation pathways. Results of this study emphasized the importance of core features rather than microbial diversity in acidogenic performance and highlighted the response of the core microbial community to environmental changes, which may be applied in practical applications to optimize acidogenic performance.

产酸过程产生的挥发性脂肪酸 (VFA) 和醇是宝贵的生物资源。然而，产酸微生物的多样性和环境因素如何影响它们的产生仍然知之甚少。在这项研究中，收集了来自产酸实验室规模反应器的 18 种不同接种物和 42 种污泥，以使用 16S rRNA 基因高通量测序结合 PICRUSt2 分析微生物群落及其代谢潜力。30732 个独特的扩增子序列变体中有 23 个被确定为核心特征，其中 34.8%（例如，梭菌属.) 与最常见产品醋酸盐的生成呈正相关。PICRUSt2 显示，平均 27% 的预测发酵途径基因被分配到核心特征，表明它们在酸生成中的关键作用。从网络方面来看，与接种物网络相比，产酸网络的节点数（12%）略高，但边数（109%）和邻居数（132%）显着减少。从产酸网络中提取了从大到小共 28 个独立的子网络。这些子网络中核心特征的分散分布强调了它们的非共现关系。电极电位是最重要的环境变量（解释的 48.2-49.3%），对超过 50% 的核心特征和发酵途径的分布产生积极影响。这项研究的结果强调了核心特征而不是微生物多样性在产酸性能中的重要性，并强调了核心微生物群落对环境变化的响应，这可能在实际应用中用于优化产酸性能。