Bottled aqua incognita: microbiota assembly and dissolved organic matter diversity in natural mineral waters.

Background: Non-carbonated natural mineral waters contain microorganisms that regularly grow after bottling despite low concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Yet, the compositions of bottled water microbiota and organic substrates that fuel microbial activity, and how both change after bottling, are still largely unknown.

Results: We performed a multifaceted analysis of microbiota and DOM diversity in 12 natural mineral waters from six European countries.