Distance decay pattern of fermented-related microorganisms in the sauce-flavor Baijiu producing region

Abstract

Microbial terroir is essential to the development of regional fermented food characteristics. Environmental microbiota participates in the fermentation process and fermentation process also domesticates the microorganisms in the environments, leading to an interaction between the fermentation process and the fermentation environment. Here, we reported microbiota from different environments (fermentation process, fermentation environment, and ecological environment) of two distilleries. We used amplicon full-length sequencing to study the regional microbial characteristics and the domestication of the fermentation process on environment. Fungi in the Chishui River producing region contributed more to the brewing, which contained many functional fungi, such as Pichia, Wickerhamomyces anomalus, and Debaryomyces. The fermentation process had a strong domestication effect on microbiota in the fermentation environment. Fermented grains and Daqu were the primary microbiota sources in the fermentation environment. Microorganisms in the producing area exhibited a distance decay relationship. With increasing distance from the distillery, the dissimilarity between microbial communities increased and the microbial community showed an obvious deterministic-stochastic pattern. The ecological environment 50m away from the distillery was less domesticated by the fermentation process. Abiotic factors (pH, acidity, and water content) and microbial interactions synergistically led to microbial differences across environments. These results first determined that a regional microbial model had been established in sauce-flavor Baijiu and comprehensively clarified the interaction between the fermentation process and the environment. It laid the foundation for further elucidation of the influence of microorganisms on the yield and flavor quality of sauce-flavor Baijiu.