한국균학회지 (Sep 2023)

Fungal Distribution in Traditional Meju and Characterization of Isolated Strains

  • Ye-Eun Son,
  • Ye-Jin Kang,
  • Sun-Young Choi,
  • Yoon-Kyung Choi,
  • Ju-Eun Lee,
  • Junyoung Kim,
  • Hee-Soo Park

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4489/kjm.20230023
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 51, no. 3
pp. 219 – 227

Abstract

Read online

This study was conducted to analyze the distribution and characteristics of fungal species in meju using the traditional method. Fungal distribution in meju was investigated using metagenomic and morphological analyses, based on which Aspergillus flavus/oryzae strains were identified as the dominant fungi in all meju samples, followed by Pichia, Rhizopus and Lichtheimia spp. As A. flavus/oryzae was dominant, we further evaluated the aflatoxin production ability and enzymatic activity of the isolates. Thin-layer chromatography and polymerase chain reaction revealed that the A. flavus/oryzae strains isolated from meju are non-aflatoxigenic fungi. Based on the analyses of amylase and protease activities, strains with high activities of amylase or protease were identified, which are proposed to be used as starters for meju fermentation.

Keywords