AUTHOR=Wang Jie , Zhong Qingping , Yang Yingying , Li Hanrong , Wang Li , Tong Yigang , Fang Xiang , Liao Zhenlin 

TITLE=Comparison of Bacterial Diversity Between Two Traditional Starters and the Round-Koji-Maker Starter for Traditional Cantonese Chi-Flavor Liquor Brewing

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01053

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.01053

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Xiaoqu</italic> is a traditional fermentation starter that is used for Chinese liquor production. Although microorganisms in the starters are closely associated with the quality and flavor of liquor, knowledge of the microbiota in <italic>xiaoqu</italic> is still far from complete, let alone the starters produced by new processes. Here, Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing was applied to study bacterial composition in three types of <italic>xiaoqu</italic> used in Cantonese soybean-flavor (<italic>Chi</italic>-flavor) liquor, namely two traditional starters (<italic>Jiu Bing</italic> and <italic>Bing Wan</italic>) and a Round-Koji-maker starter (<italic>San qu</italic>) produced by the automatic starter-making disk machine. The results showed bacterial diversity in traditional starters was similar and higher than that in the Round-Koji-maker starter. <italic>Lactobacillus</italic> and <italic>Pediococcus</italic> were the dominant genera in all starters, while other different dominant genera also existed in different starters, which were <italic>Weissella, Acetobacter</italic>, and <italic>Gluconobacter</italic> for <italic>Jiu Bing, Weissella</italic> for <italic>Bing Wan</italic>, and <italic>Bacillus, Acetobacter, Acinetobacter</italic> and <italic>Klebsiella</italic> for <italic>San qu</italic>, respectively. Meanwhile, <italic>Cytophagaceae</italic>, one particular microbial family, and some pathogens including <italic>Klebsiella, Cronobacter</italic>, and <italic>Enterobacter</italic> were also found in <italic>San qu</italic>, indicating the automatic starter-making disk machine should be ameliorated before applied into industrial production. These results enriched our knowledge on <italic>xiaoqu</italic>-related microorganisms and might be helpful in industrial <italic>Chi</italic>-flavor liquor production and the development of fermentation technology.</p>