ArticleeLife2021
The diversity and function of sourdough starter microbiomes.
Article in eLife, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed.
- Niche Construction: A Rational Engineering Strategy for Regulating Microbial Assembly to Enhance Flavor and Bioactivity of Fermented Foods.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2026Review
- Considerations for the design of impactful citizen-science projects in microbiome research.Nature protocols · 2026Review
- A case-based bioprospecting ethics module for undergraduate CUREs with multi-institution evidence of student learning.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2026Article
- Genotypic and Phenotypic Diversity of Maudiozyma humilis: The Multiple Evolutionary Trajectories of a Domesticated Yeast.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Exploring Microbial Diversity and Yeast Typing in Traditional Sourdoughs from Villaurbana (Sardinia, Italy) Using an Integrated Approach.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Assessing the diversity and functional profile of the "microbial proteome" in fermented foods.Food & function · 2026Article
- Characterizing microbiomes of African fermented foods in a global context.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2026Article
- Functional Characteristics and Stress Tolerance of Microbiota in Botswana's Traditional Sourdoughs.Current microbiology · 2026Article
- Feature Reviews on Food Microbiology.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Separating Myths From Facts About Bread and Health.Nutrition bulletin · 2026Review
- Sonmat, a citizen-science enabled Kimjang kimchi case study on associations between hand and kimchi microbiota.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Rising together: exploring sourdough fermentation diversity through co-design in the HealthFerm citizen science initiative.NPJ science of food · 2026Article
- Shipped and shifted: modeling collection-induced bias in microbiome multi-omics using a tractable fermentation system.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- The role of flour type and feeding schedule on the sourdough microbiome.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Microbial ecology of fermented foods.FEMS yeast research · 2026Review
- Cereal Arabinoxylans-Their Enzymatic Degradation and Relevance for Breadmaking and Human Health.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2026Review
- Assessing the diversity and functional profile of the "microbial proteome" in fermented foods.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Making yogurt with the ant holobiont uncovers bacteria, acids, and enzymes for food fermentation.iScience · 2025Article
- Ecological factors that drive microbial communities in culturally diverse fermented foods.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- Microbial ecology applied to fuel ethanol production from sugarcane.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Review
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Humans have relied on sourdough starter microbial communities to make leavened bread for thousands of years, but only a small fraction of global sourdough biodiversity has been characterized. Working with a community-scientist network of bread bakers, we determined the microbial diversity of 500 sourdough starters from four continents. In sharp contrast with widespread assumptions, we found little evidence for biogeographic patterns in starter communities. Strong co-occurrence patterns observed in situ and recreated in vitro demonstrate that microbial interactions shape sourdough community structure. Variation in dough rise rates and aromas were largely explained by acetic acid bacteria, a mostly overlooked group of sourdough microbes. Our study reveals the extent of microbial diversity in an ancient fermented food across diverse cultural and geographic backgrounds.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.