Microbial Community Structure and Chemical Constituents in , a Fermented Crude Drug Used in Kampo Medicine.

(Massa Medicata Fermentata) is a traditional crude drug used to treat anorexia and dyspepsia of elder patients in east Asia. is generally prepared by the microbial fermentation of wheat and herbs. is also used in Japanese Kampo medicine as a component of (). However, the quality of varies by manufacture because there are no reference standards to control the quality of medicinal . Thus, we aim to characterize the quality of various commercially available by chemical and microbial analysis. We collected 13 products manufactured in China and Korea and investigated the microbial structure and chemical constituents. Amplicon sequence analysis revealed that sp. was common microorganism in products. Digestive enzymes (α-amylase, protease, and lipase), organic acids (ferulic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, and acetic acid), and 39 volatile compounds were commonly found in products. Although there were some commonalities in products, microbial and chemical characteristic considerably differed as per the manufacturer. sp. was predominant in Korean products, and Korean products showed higher enzyme activities than Chinese products. Meanwhile, sp. was commonly detected in Chinese , and ferulic acid was higher in Chinese products. Principal component analysis based on the GC-MS peak area of the volatiles also clearly distinguished products manufactured in China from those in Korea. Chinese products contained higher amounts of benzaldehyde and anethole than Korean ones. Korean products were further separated into two groups: one with relatively higher linalool and terpinen-4-ol and another with higher hexanoic acid and 1-octen-3-ol. Thus, our study revealed the commonality and diversity of commercial products, in which the commonalities can possibly be the reference standard for quality control of , and the diversity suggested the importance of microbial management to stabilize the quality of .