Characterization of the microbial community in three types of fermentation starters used for Chinese liquor production. Issue 4 (16th September 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gou, Min; Wang, HuiZhong; Yuan, HuaWei; Zhang, WenXue; Tang, YueQin; Kida, Kenji
• Is Part Of: Journal of the Institute of Brewing. Volume 121:Issue 4(2015)
• Page Start: 620
• Page End: 627
• Publication Date: 2015-09-16
• Subjects: Brewing -- Periodicals; 663.305
• DOI: 10.1002/jib.272
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0046-9750

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>This study examined and compared the microbial community in three typical fermentation starters (called as <italic>Daqu</italic>, <italic>Xiaoqu</italic>, and <italic>Fuqu</italic> in China) used for liquor production by analysing the 16S and 18S rRNA gene clone library. The results show that the microbial diversity in the three types of fermentation starters (<italic>JiuQu</italic>) differs significantly. The bacterial species in <italic>Daqu</italic> and <italic>Fuqu</italic> were mainly thermophilic or thermotolerant. In <italic>Daqu</italic>, the dominant bacterial species were <italic>Thermoactinomyces sanguinis</italic> (53.85%) and <italic>Pantoea agglomerans</italic> (19.23%), followed by uncultured bacteria (15.39%). The lactic acid bacterium <italic>Weissella cibaria</italic> (50%) and a member of Enterobacteriaceae, <italic>Enterobacter ludwigii</italic> (10%), were the dominant bacterial species in <italic>Xiaoqu</italic>. Low abundances of other bacteria, including <italic>Deinococcus radiodurans</italic>, <italic>Corynebacterium variabile</italic> and <italic>Acinetobacter baumannii</italic>, were reported for <italic>Xiaoqu</italic>. <italic>Enterococcus faecium</italic>, <italic>Clostridium beijerinckii</italic> and <italic>Bacillus cereus</italic> were observed in <italic>Fuqu</italic> and accounted for 46.67, 23.33 and 16.67% of the total bacteria identified, respectively. Fungal diversity was high in <italic>Daqu</italic> and consisted exclusively of thermophilic moulds, such as <italic>Aspergillus glaucus</italic> (62.5%), <italic>Thermomyces lanuginosus</italic> (12.5%) and <italic>Thermoascus crustaceus</italic> (12.5%). Only two fungal species were reported for <italic>Fuqu</italic> and <italic>Xiaoqu</italic> and both contained the mould <italic>Rhizopus oryzae</italic>. <italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</italic> and the non‐<italic>Saccharomyces</italic> yeast (<italic>Saccharomycopsis fibuligera</italic>) were also identified in <italic>Fuqu</italic> and <italic>Xiaoqu</italic>, respectively. This finding suggests that microbial community structure in <italic>JiuQu</italic> starters is the key factor to determine the variety of flavours. Copyright © 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling</p> </abstract>