"Daqu" is a fermentation starter and substrate complex that is used to initiate fermentations for the production of Chinese liquor (alcoholic spirit). Several different types of Daqu are customary used, having different flavours, i.e. light, strong, or sauce flavor. With the aim to develop objective methods to characterize and distinguish such different types of Daqu, nontargeted analyses of extracts from three typical flavor types of Daqu were carried out using (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. A significant separation of spectra of Daqu of light-flavor, strong-flavor and sauce-flavor types was achieved using principal components analysis. The separation could be attributed to higher levels of glycerol, malate, acetate and N-acetylglutamine in light-flavor Daqu; higher levels of mannitol, betaine, trimethylamine and pyroglutamate in strong-flavor Daqu; and higher levels of lactate, isoleucine, leucine, isovalerate and valine in sauce-flavor Daqu. These metabolites were regarded as the representative metabolites or biomarkers characteristic for each type of Daqu and could be associated with some of the microorganisms that have been reported in Daqu. This study highlights the application of nontargeted analysis techniques based on NMR in process research and quality control in Daqu production and liquor fermentation.

To select an appropriate sampling method for comparison of metabolite profiles between planktonic and biofilm Staphylococcus aureus using NMR techniques, we evaluated three methods: quenching-centrifugation (QC), filtration-quenching (FQ) and filtration-quenching-lyophilization (FQL). We found differences in metabolite loss, yield, reproducibility and metabolite profile. QC caused severe metabolite leakage and possible decomposition of nucleotides. FQ achieved high yields and reproducibility, although it had the disadvantages of long filtration and rinse times before quenching. FQL resulted in a loss of a few metabolites and a lower yield due to lyophilization. Although the biomarkers discovered by each method were nearly the same and seemed insensitive to technical variances, we conclude that FQ is the most appropriate sampling method because of its high yield and reproducibility.

-Yak milk is a type of milk that people are less familiar with due to its remote geographical location, the particular geographical environment and climatic conditions in Tibet, which may have significant effects on composition, microbiota and fermentation outcome. To investigate the chemical composition and microbiota of fresh and fermented yak milk, and to isolate and characterize the predominant microorganisms in the fermented milk, yak milk (24 fresh and 30 fermented milk samples) was collected from four areas of different altitudes in Tibet, and their microbiological profile and chemical composition were investigated. Yak milk had a higher fat, crude protein, lactose and dry matter content than cow milk. The fermented yak milk showed a great diversity in fat and dry matter levels due to the different ways of processing in different localities, and lower pH and higher lactic acid content compared with commercial cow milk yogurt. Fermented yak milk had a better sanitary quality than fresh yak milk. Three species of lactobacilli (Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactobacillus curvatus) and five species of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida kefyr, Candida lambica, Candida famata and Candida holmii) were identified phenotypically and encountered as predominant fermentation microbiota. The predominant lactic species in fermented milk was L. fermentum. yak milk / composition / microbiota / fermented milk