Background
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) exhibit a limited correlation between genomic attributes and expressed metabolic traits, with their metabolic profiles being strongly influenced by ecological and environmental conditions. Recent advances in metabolomics have enabled high-resolution profiling of LAB-specific metabolic fingerprints and bioactive compounds. Nevertheless, challenges such as metabolite instability, incomplete annotation of LAB-derived metabolites, and environmental interference within complex fermentation matrices continue to hinder data standardization, reproducibility, and mechanistic interpretation.
Scope and approach
This review synthesizes recent advances in LAB metabolomics, highlighting how state-of-the-art analytical platforms, in combination with single-cell and metabolic flux-based approaches, improve strain identification, metabolic phenotyping, and functional metabolite discovery. It further addresses LAB-specific methodological challenges and observed discordance between phylogenetic relationships and metabolomic phenotypes, and discusses how the integration of metabolomics with genome-scale metabolic models (GSMMs) and multi-omics frameworks can improve functional prediction and provide deeper mechanistic insights.
Key findings and conclusions
Overall, the integration of metabolomics is transforming functional studies in LAB by enabling strain-specific functional differentiation and the direct inference of adaptive traits from metabolic phenotypes. As metabolomics increasingly integrates with multi-omics datasets, GSMMs, and experimental validation approaches, a more unified framework for LAB functional analysis is emerging. This integrated approach provides a robust foundation for mechanistic elucidation, functional strain selection, and targeted applications in fermented food systems.
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