The Metagenomic Properties of Uşak Tarhana Dough

This study investigated the bacterial diversity of geographically indicated Uşak tarhana using metagenomics. Tarhana dough samples were collected from local producers in different regions of the Uşak province. The samples were analyzed for their chemical and microbiological properties. The microbiota was examined through metagenomic analysis using high-throughput sequencing, followed by bioinformatic processing with QIIME2 and DADA2 tools. Taxonomic analyses revealed that Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis were the dominant species in most samples. In Silico analysis confirmed the presence of Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis in the tarhana fermentation microbiota. Diversity analyses, including Shannon and Chao1 indices, indicated significant variation in microbial diversity and homogeneity among the samples. Differences in microbiota diversity were observed between tarhana produced in the northern and southern regions of Uşak. The bacterial diversity of the tarhana samples showed partial differences at the micro-local level, and these results suggested that the slight variation in bacterial diversity between the northern and southern regions might be related to mild climatic transition.