Filamentous fungal diversity and community structure associated with the solid state fermentation of Chinese Maotai-flavor liquor

Maotai-flavor liquor is produced by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process under solid state conditions, including Daqu (starter) making, stacking fermentation and alcohol fermentation stages. Filamentous fungi produce many enzymes to degrade the starch material into fermentable sugar during liquor fermentation. This study investigated the filamentous fungal community associated with liquor making process. Eight and seven different fungal species were identified by using culture-dependent and -independent method (PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, DGGE) analyses, respectively. The traditional enumeration method showed that Daqu provided 7 fungal species for stacking fermentation. The total population of filamentous fungi increased from 3.4 × 103 cfu/g to 1.28 × 104 cfu/g in the first 3 days of stacking fermentation, and then decreased till the end. In alcohol fermentation in pits, the population continuously decreased and few fungal species survived (lower than 1 × 103 cfu/g) after 10 days. Therefore, stacking fermentation is an essential stage for the growth of filamentous fungi. Paecilomyces variotii, Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus terreus were detected by both methods, and P. variotii and A. oryzae were the predominant species. Meanwhile, P. variotii possessed the highest glucoamylase (3252 ± 526 U/g) and A. oryzae exhibited the highest α-amylase (1491 ± 324 U/g) activity among the cultivable fungal species. Furthermore, the variation of starch and reducing sugar content was consistent with the growth of P. variotii and A. oryzae in Zaopei (fermented grains) during stacking fermentation, which implied that the two filamentous fungi played an important role in producing amylase for hydrolyzing the starch.