Cupuassu (Theobroma grandiflorum Schum) is a fruit belonging to the same genus as cocoa and, through seed fermentation, a chocolate-like product called “the cupulate” is obtained. The pulp is removed from the seeds before fermentation because its abundance hinders the process. Unlike cocoa, little is known about the microbial diversity involved in cupuassu fermentation. The goal of this study was to explore the use of next-generation sequencing to identify the yeasts and bacteria communities involved in cupuassu seed fermentation on three different pulp concentrations (0, 7.5, and 15%) as well as two turning schemes on the microbial growth. In order to do that, a massive sequencing of the 16S and ITS4 rRNA region (S) using the Illumina MiSeq Platform identified some genera of bacteria and yeasts, respectively, in the fermentation environment. Taxonomic analyses of both communities, especially at the genus level, revealed a predominance of yeasts such as Pichia and Hanseniaspora, and bacteria such as Acetobacter and Lactobacillus. A predominance of bacteria over yeasts diversity was observed in the experiments with higher pulp concentrations (15%). The physicochemical analysis showed that fermentation of samples with 15% pulp exhibited longer fermentation times, the highest temperatures, and elevated production of organic acids such as acetic acid, a precursor of flavor. In addition, the turning applied every 24 h to the mass slightly favored the formation of flavor precursors. It seems that the abundance and composition of cupuassu pulp, rich in organic compounds, can influence the diversity of some populations of yeasts. Some of those compounds identified in previous studies are terpenes with antimicrobial activity. More studies will be necessary to confirm if the presence of terpenes compounds in the cupuassu pulp exert some inhibitory action on microorganism diversity.

Cupuassu（Theobroma grandiflorum舒姆（Schum）是一种与可可属相同的水果，通过种子发酵，获得了一种名为“ cupulate”的巧克力状产品。在发酵之前将果肉从种子中除去，因为果肉的丰度阻碍了该过程。与可可不同，关于cupuassu发酵涉及的微生物多样性知之甚少。这项研究的目的是探索利用下一代测序技术，以三种不同的果肉浓度（0％，7.5％和15％）以及微生物的两种转化方案来鉴定参与cupuassu种子发酵的酵母和细菌群落。生长。为此，使用Illumina MiSeq平台对16S和ITS4 rRNA区域（S）进行了大规模测序，分别在发酵环境中鉴定了一些细菌和酵母属。毕赤氏酵母和汉斯尼氏菌属，以及醋杆菌和乳杆菌等细菌。在较高的果肉浓度（15％）的实验中，观察到细菌占多数，超过了酵母的多样性。物理化学分析表明，纸浆含量为15％的样品的发酵表现出更长的发酵时间，最高的温度以及有机酸（例如乙酸，一种风味剂的前体）的产量增加。此外，每24小时对物料进行一次翻转，稍微有利于风味前体的形成。看起来，富含有机化合物的铜粉果肉的丰度和成分可以影响某些酵母菌群体的多样性。在先前的研究中鉴定出的某些化合物是具有抗菌活性的萜烯。有必要进行更多的研究来确认cupuassu纸浆中萜烯化合物的存在是否会对微生物多样性产生一定的抑制作用。