Mycobiology

The Korean Society of Mycology (한국균학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Aspergillus Associated with Meju, a Fermented Soybean Starting Material for Traditional Soy Sauce and Soybean Paste in Korea

  • Hong, Seung-Beom (Korean Agricultural Culture Collection, Agricultural Microbiology Division, National Academy of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration) ;
  • Kim, Dae-Ho (Korean Agricultural Culture Collection, Agricultural Microbiology Division, National Academy of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration) ;
  • Samson, Robert A. (CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre)
  • Received : 2015.05.11
  • Accepted : 2015.08.12
  • Published : 2015.09.30
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Aspergillus is an important fungal genus used for the fermentation of Asian foods; this genus is referred to as koji mold in Japan and China. A. oryzae, A. sojae, and A. tamari are used in the production of miso and shoyu in Japan, but a comprehensive taxonomic study of Aspergillus isolated from Meju, a fermented soybean starting material for traditional soy sauce and soybean paste in Korea, has not been conducted. In this study, various Aspergillus species were isolated during a study of the mycobiota of Meju, and the aspergilli were identified based on phenotypic characteristics and sequencing of the ${\beta}$-tubulin gene. Most strains of Aspergillus were found to belong to the following sections: Aspergillus (n = 220), Flavi (n = 213), and Nigri (n = 54). The most commonly identified species were A. oryzae (n = 183), A. pseudoglaucus (Eurotium repens) (n = 81), A. chevalieri (E. chevalieri) (n = 62), A. montevidensis (E. amstelodami) (n = 34), A. niger (n = 21), A. tamari (n = 15), A. ruber (E. rubrum) (n = 15), A. proliferans (n = 14), and A. luchuensis (n = 14); 25 species were identified from 533 Aspergillus strains. Aspergillus strains were mainly found during the high temperature fermentation period in the later steps of Meju fermentation.

Keywords

References

  1. Lee SS. Meju fermentation for a raw material of Korean traditional soy products. Kor J Mycol 1995;23:161-75.
  2. Lee SS, Sung CK, Yu GW, Oh CH, Yu HG. Studies on safety and classification of microorganisms related to Korean traditional Meju. In: Yu JY, editor. Study on the commercial scale production of Meju for Korean fermented soybean products. Research report of Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea. Gwacheon: Ministry of Science and Technology; 1995. p. 391-464.
  3. Klich MA. Identification of common Aspergillus species. Utrecht: Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures; 2002.
  4. Kitamoto K. Molecular biology of the koji molds. Adv Appl Microbiol 2002;51:129-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2164(02)51004-2
  5. Hong SB, Lee M, Kim DH, Varga J, Frisvad JC, Perrone G, Gomi K, Yamada O, Machida M, Houbraken J, et al. Aspergillus luchuensis, an industrially important black Aspergillus in East Asia. PLoS One 2013;8:e63769. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063769
  6. Pitt JI, Hocking AD. Fungi and food spoilage. 3rd ed. New York: Springer; 2009. p. 275-337.
  7. Hong SB, Yamada O, Samson RA. Taxonomic re-evaluation of black koji molds. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2014;98:555-61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-5332-9
  8. Murakami H. Classification of the koji mold. J Gen Appl Microbiol 1971;17:281-309. https://doi.org/10.2323/jgam.17.281
  9. Murakami H. Classification system of the black Aspergilli. Taxonomic studies on Japanese industrial strains of the Aspergillus (Part 32). J Brew Soc Jpn 1979;74:849-53. https://doi.org/10.6013/jbrewsocjapan1915.74.849
  10. Lee BH, Kim SJ, Lee HW. The taxonomical studies of Korean Aspergilli. Korean J Microbiol 1968;6:6-11.
  11. Sakurai Y, Shioda H, Komagata K, Kim CS. The physical properties and identification of molds isolated from Korean Meju. J Dongguk Univ 1984;23:273-90.
  12. Hong SB, Kim DH, Lee M, Baek SY, Kwon SW, Samson RA. Taxonomy of Eurotium species isolated from Meju. J Microbiol 2011;49:669-74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-011-0376-y
  13. Hong SB, Kim DH, Kim SH, Bang N, Kwon SW. Identification of black Aspergillus strains isolated from Meju. Kor J Mycol 2013;41:132-5. https://doi.org/10.4489/KJM.2013.41.2.132
  14. Samson RA, Houbraken J, Thrane U, Frisvad JC, Andersen B. Food and indoor fungi. Utrecht: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre; 2010.
  15. Glass NL, Donaldson GC. Development of primer sets designed for use with the PCR to amplify conserved genes from filamentous ascomycetes. Appl Environ Microbiol 1995;61:1323-30.
  16. Hong SB, Lee M, Kim DH, Meijer M, Majoor E, Vankuyk PA, Samson RA. Aspergillus cibarius sp. nov., from traditional Meju in Korea. J Microbiol 2012;50:712-4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-012-2347-3
  17. Hubka V, Kolarik M, Kubatova A, Peterson SW. Taxonomic revision of Eurotium and transfer of species to Aspergillus. Mycologia 2013;105:912-37. https://doi.org/10.3852/12-151
  18. Kim DH, Kim SH, Kwon SW, Lee JK, Hong SB. Aspergillus cumulatus sp. nov., from rice straw and air for Meju fermentation. J Microbiol Biotechnol 2014;24:334-6. https://doi.org/10.4014/jmb.1312.12006
  19. Pildain MB, Frisvad JC, Vaamonde G, Cabral D, Varga J, Samson RA. Two novel aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus species from Argentinean peanuts. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2008;58(Pt 3):725-35. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.65123-0
  20. Peterson SW. Phylogenetic analysis of Aspergillus species using DNA sequences from four loci. Mycologia 2008;100:205-26. https://doi.org/10.3852/mycologia.100.2.205
  21. Tamura K, Peterson D, Peterson N, Stecher G, Nei M, Kumar S. MEGA5: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Mol Biol Evol 2011;28:2731-9. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msr121
  22. Raper KB, Fennell DI. Aspergillus niger group. In: The genus Aspergillus. Baltimore (MD): The Williams & Wilkins Company; 1965. p. 293-356.
  23. Samson RA, Visagie CM, Houbraken J, Hong SB, Hubka V, Klaassen CH, Perrone G, Seifert KA, Susca A, Tanney JB, et al. Phylogeny, identification and nomenclature of the genus Aspergillus. Stud Mycol 2014;78:141-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.simyco.2014.07.004
  24. Hong SB, Lee M, Kim DH, Chung SH, Shin HD, Samson RA. The proportion of non-aflatoxigenic strains of the Aspergillus flavus/oryzae complex from Meju by analyses of the aflatoxin biosynthetic genes. J Microbiol 2013;51:766-72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-013-3128-3