Chapter 11 - Metagenomics of Traditional Beverages

Abstract

Traditional fermented beverages, since prehispanic times, have played key roles on different cultures. These beverages not only provide nutritional and beneficial properties to human health but they are also used in rituals and religious ceremonies, and form part of the identity and culture of different human populations. Traditional beverages have specific organoleptic characteristics, which may vary because of region; this is attributed to the fermentation process that involves specific microorganisms, raw materials, and different processing steps. The microbiota that participates during the fermentation process consists mainly of lactic acid bacteria and yeast from starter cultures or microorganism present in the raw material (cereals as rice, wheat, millet, sorghum, maize; sap of plants, plants, etc.) and from the tools used in the process; however, some of these microorganisms have not yet been isolated using traditional culture media. Metagenomics helps to define the fermentation processes because it genetically characterizes each microorganism present in a specific ecological niche and may ensure quality control and reproducibility of these traditional beverages. Also, it can help in the scaling process of these beverages. Some traditional beverages around the world are: pulque, pozol, mezcal, palm wine, takju, kefir, and others alcoholic traditional beverages. This chapter includes the applications of culture-independent methods, such as DGGE, ARDRA, and second-generation sequencing as pyrosequencing and Illumina technology, to identify those microorganisms involved in the fermentation of traditional beverages and microorganisms isolated from these beverages.