Diversity of yeast species during fermentative process contributing to Chinese Maotai-flavour liquor making

Abstract

The famous traditional Chinese Maotai-flavour liquor is produced by a unique spontaneous simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process, which contributes to a distinctive yeast community with specific physiological properties and performances. Therefore, it would be useful to investigate this yeast community and reveal the novelty of its characteristics. Nine yeast species were obtained from the fermentation period. A combination of physiological and functional analyses revealed a very high diversity of yeast populations. In particular, the extremely high temperature and low acidity of the fermentation conditions led to an accumulation of species with distinctive heat- and acid-resistant properties. Moreover, these yeast species were also significant flavour contributors, for various alcohols, acids and esters. The Chinese Maotai-flavour liquor-fermentation process is rich in yeast resources with distinctive fermentation properties, which were different from other beverages. This work is the first to study the complex yeast ecology of the Maotai-flavour liquor-making process. It allows a deeper insight into the mechanism of this process.