Wei Ruteng, Sun Xiaoqi, Chen Xufeng, Zhang Yujing, Li Qi, Zhang Xiaoyu, Xu Nv
Shanxi Province Vinegar Brewing Technology Innovation Center, College of Food Science and Engineering, Shanxi Agricultural UniversityTaigu, Shanxi 030801 China.
Shanxi Province Vinegar Brewing Technology Innovation Center, College of Food Science and Engineering, Shanxi Agricultural UniversityTaigu, Shanxi 030801 China.
Food Res Int. 2025 Feb;203:115851. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2025.115851. Epub 2025 Jan 27.
Daqu, the fermentation starter of Shanxi aged vinegar (a traditional Chinese cereal vinegar), is produced by natural fermentation of barley and/or peas under conditions of open environment. However, the succession of microbial communities and its effects on volatile compounds during Daqu maturation were still unclear, which are closely related to the flavor and quality of Shanxi aged vinegar. In this study, the dynamics of physicochemical properties, microbial communities, and volatile compounds and their inter-relationships during the production of Shanxi aged vinegar Daqu were investigated. High-throughput sequencing analysis showed that Lactobacillus and Rhizopus were the most abundant bacteria and fungi during Daqu maturation, respectively. Co-occurrence network analysis showed that Lactobacillus, Saccharopolyspora, Leuconostoc, and Weissella were the important taxa affecting the diversity of Daqu microbial community. Spearman correlation analysis showed that Leuconostoc, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, and Wickerhamomyces were positively correlated with starch and reducing sugars; Wickerhamomyces, Aspergillus, and Bacillus were positively correlated with esterification; Lactobacillus, Enterobacter, Bacillus, Aspergillus, and Rhizopus were positively correlated with lactic acid and acetic acid. Based on the Mean Decrease Accuracy index analysis showed that, ethyl acetate, 1-nonanal, 1-octen-3-ol, ethylbenzene, 3-furanmethanol, and methyl isovalerate were the volatile characteristic compounds during Daqu maturation, respectively. Aspergillus, Byssochlamys, Lichtheimia, Rasamsonia, Rhizopus, Syncephalastrum, Enterobacter, Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, and Staphylococcus were strongly correlated with volatile compounds; among them, fungi had a greater impact on volatile compounds than bacteria. This study may further improve our understanding concerning the microbial system and microbial roles of Chinese cereal vinegar Daqu and may contribute to optimize the production process of Daqu.
大曲是山西老陈醋（一种中国传统谷物醋）的发酵剂，由大麦和/或豌豆在开放环境条件下自然发酵制成。然而，大曲成熟过程中微生物群落的演替及其对挥发性化合物的影响仍不明确，而这些与山西老陈醋的风味和品质密切相关。在本研究中，对山西老陈醋大曲生产过程中的理化性质、微生物群落和挥发性化合物的动态变化及其相互关系进行了研究。高通量测序分析表明，乳酸菌和根霉分别是大曲成熟过程中最丰富的细菌和真菌。共现网络分析表明，乳酸菌、糖多孢菌、明串珠菌和魏斯氏菌是影响大曲微生物群落多样性的重要分类群。Spearman相关性分析表明，明串珠菌、曲霉、根霉和威克汉姆酵母与淀粉和还原糖呈正相关；威克汉姆酵母、曲霉和芽孢杆菌与酯化作用呈正相关；乳酸菌、肠杆菌、芽孢杆菌、曲霉和根霉与乳酸和乙酸呈正相关。基于平均降低准确度指数分析表明，乙酸乙酯、壬醛、1-辛烯-3-醇、乙苯、3-呋喃甲醇和异戊酸甲酯分别是大曲成熟过程中的挥发性特征化合物。曲霉、被孢霉、 Lichtheimia、Rasamsonia、根霉、共头霉、肠杆菌、乳酸菌、明串珠菌和葡萄球菌与挥发性化合物密切相关；其中，真菌对挥发性化合物的影响大于细菌。本研究可能会进一步增进我们对中国谷物醋大曲微生物系统和微生物作用的理解，并可能有助于优化大曲的生产工艺。
