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. 2023 Oct 30:7:100628.
doi: 10.1016/j.crfs.2023.100628. eCollection 2023.

Comparative analysis of microbial communities and volatile flavor components in the brewing of Hongqu rice wines fermented with different starters

Guimei Chen  1   2 , Yujie Yuan  2   3 , Suwen Tang  2   3 , Ziyi Yang  2   3 , Qi Wu  2   3 , Zihua Liang  2   3 , Shiyun Chen  2   3 , Wenlong Li  2   3 , Xucong Lv  1   2   3   4 , Li Ni  1   2   3
Affiliations

Comparative analysis of microbial communities and volatile flavor components in the brewing of Hongqu rice wines fermented with different starters

Guimei Chen et al. Curr Res Food Sci. .

Abstract

As one of the quintessential representatives of Chinese rice wine, Hongqu rice wine is brewed with glutinous rice as the main raw material and Hongqu (Gutian Qu or Wuyi Qu) as the fermentation starter. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of Hongqu on the volatile compositions and the microbial communities in the traditional production of Gutian Hongqu rice wine (GT) and Wuyi Hongqu rice wine (WY). Through the OPLS-DA analysis, 3-methylbutan-1-ol, isobutanol, ethyl lactate, ethyl acetate, octanoic acid, diethyl succinate, phenylethyl alcohol, hexanoic acid and n-decanoic acid were identified as the characteristic volatile flavor components between GT and WY. Microbiome analysis revealed significant enrichments of Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Aspergillus and Hyphopichia in WY brewing, whereas Monascus, Saccharomyces, Pantoea, and Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia were significantly enriched in GT brewing. Additionally, correlation analysis showed that Saccharomyces, Lactobacillus, Weissella and Pediococcus were significantly positively correlated wih most characteristic volatile components. Conversely, Picha, Monascus, Franconibacter and Kosakonia showed significant negative correlations with most of the characteristic volatile components. Furthermore, bioinformatical analysis indicated that the gene abundances for enzymes including glucan 1,4-alpha-glucosidase, carboxylesterase, alcohol dehydrogenase, dihydroxy-acid dehydratase and branched-chain-amino-acid transaminase were significantly higher in WY compared to GT. This finding explains the higher content of higher alcohols and characteristic esters in WY relative to GT. Collectively, this study provides a theoretical basis for improving the flavor profile of Hongqu rice wine and establishing a solid scientific foundation for the sustainable development of Hongqu rice wine industry.

Keywords: Fermentation starters; Hongqu rice wine; Metabolic function; Microbial community; Volatile flavor compounds.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The dynamic changes of ethanol (A), reducing sugar (B), total acids (C) and amino acid nitrogen (D) during the traditional brewing of Hongqu rice wine.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The dynamic changes of volatile flavor components during the traditional brewing of Hongqu rice wine. (A) Heatmap, (B) PCA score plot, (C) PCA loading plot.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The analysis of volatile compounds at the 45th day. (A) PCA score scatter plot, (B) PCA loading scatter plot, (C) PLS-DA score scatter plot, (D) OPLS-DA score scatter plot, (E) VIPpred value of differential aroma compounds and (F) bubble chart of differential aroma compounds.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Sensory profiles of Hongqu rice wines (GT and WY) fermented with different starters.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Stacked histogram of the relative abundance of the predominant microbial phylotypes at the genus level. (A) bacterial genera. (B) fungi genera.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
PCA analysis of the relative abundance of the predominant microbial phylotypes at the genus level. (A) PCA score plot of the predominant bacterial community. (B) PCA loading plot of the predominant bacterial community. (C) PCA score plot of the predominant fungal community. (D) PCA loading plot of the predominant fungal community.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Analysis and visualization of the differences in the relative abundance of bacterial (A) and fungal (B) genera between Hongqu rice wines fermented with Gutian Qu and Wuyi Qu (GT and WY) using STAMP software. Microbial genera with significant differences between GT and WY were determined using a Welsh's t-test, and the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was used to control the false-discovery rate.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Correlation heatmap analysis between the characteristic volatile components and the predominant microbial phylotypes at the genus level in the fermentation of Hongqu rice wine. (A) Characteristic volatile components-bacteria, (B) Characteristic volatile components-fungi.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Bubble chart of the abundance of microbial enzymes closely related to the metabolism of characteristic volatile flavor components during the traditional brewing of Hongqu rice wine fermented with Gutian Qu and Wuyi Qu. (A) Bacterial enzymes (B) Fungal enzymes.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
The metabolic network of the characteristic volatile components in Hongqu rice wine.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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