Lot-to-lot variation in the microbiota during the brewing process of the kimoto-style Japanese rice wine
The kimoto-style Japanese rice wine (sake) has a wide variety of flavors since the dominant microbes including lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and nitrate-reducing bacteria that spontaneously proliferate in the fermentation starter vary depending on the brewery. The objective of this study was to evaluate the lot-to-lot variation in the microbiota and elucidate the characteristics of transitions in the microbiota during the manufacturing process of the kimoto-style fermentation starter in a newly established sake brewery in Hokkaido, Japan. The microbiota was analyzed on the basis of the RNA-based 16S rRNA amplicon analysis for four lots of starters produced in the first and second brewing years after the establishment of the brewery and evaluated for the differences in the microbiota in each lot through bacterial composition and diversity analyses.