Characterization of thermophilic fungal community associated with pile fermentation of Pu-erh tea

Wei Zhang; Ruijuan Yang; Wenjun Fang; Liang Yan; Jun Lu; Jun Sheng; Jie Lv

doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2016.03.025

Characterization of thermophilic fungal community associated with pile fermentation of Pu-erh tea

Int J Food Microbiol. 2016 Jun 16:227:29-33. doi: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2016.03.025. Epub 2016 Mar 26.

Authors

Wei Zhang¹, Ruijuan Yang², Wenjun Fang¹, Liang Yan³, Jun Lu⁴, Jun Sheng⁵, Jie Lv⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
² College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China; Pu'er Institute of Pu-erh Tea, Pu'er, Yunnan 665000, China.
³ Pu'er Institute of Pu-erh Tea, Pu'er, Yunnan 665000, China.
⁴ Institute for Applied Ecology New Zealand, School of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1142, New Zealand; School of Interprofessional Health Studies, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 0627, New Zealand; Institute of Biomedical Technology, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
⁵ Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China. Electronic address: shengj@ynau.edu.cn.
⁶ College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: lvjie@mail.buct.edu.cn.

PMID: 27046629
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2016.03.025

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize the thermophilic fungi in pile-fermentation process of Pu-erh tea. Physicochemical analyses showed that the high temperature and low pH provided optimal conditions for propagation of fungi. A number of fungi, including Blastobotrys adeninivorans, Thermomyces lanuginosus, Rasamsonia emersonii, Aspergillus fumigatus, Rhizomucor pusillus, Rasamsonia byssochlamydoides, Rasamsonia cylindrospora, Aspergillus tubingensis, Aspergillus niger, Candida tropicalis and Fusarium graminearum were isolated as thermophilic fungi under combination of high temperature and acid culture conditions from Pu-erh tea pile-fermentation. The fungal communities were analyzed by PCR-DGGE. Results revealed that those fungi are closely related to Debaryomyces hansenii, Cladosporium cladosporioides, A. tubingensis, R. emersonii, R. pusillus, A. fumigatus and A. niger, and the last four presented as dominant species in the pile process. These four preponderant thermophilic fungi reached the order of magnitude of 10(7), 10(7), 10(7) and 10(6)copies/g dry tea, respectively, measured by real-time quantitative PCR (q-PCR). The results indicate that the thermophilic fungi play an important role in Pu-erh tea pile fermentation.

Keywords: Fungal community; PCR-DGGE; Pile-fermentation; Pu-erh tea; Thermophilic fungi; q-PCR.

MeSH terms

Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis
Fermentation
Fungi / classification*
Fungi / genetics
Fungi / isolation & purification*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Tea / chemistry
Tea / microbiology*

Substances

Tea