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Fermentation of Agave tequilana juice by Kloeckera africana: influence of amino-acid supplementations

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek volume 101, pages 195–204 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

This study aimed to improve the fermentation efficiency of Kloeckera africana K1, in tequila fermentations. We investigated organic and inorganic nitrogen source requirements in continuous K. africana fermentations fed with Agave tequilana juice. The addition of a mixture of 20 amino-acids greatly improved the fermentation efficiency of this yeast, increasing the consumption of reducing sugars and production of ethanol, compared with fermentations supplemented with ammonium sulfate. The preference of K. africana for each of the 20 amino-acids was further determined in batch fermentations and we found that asparagine supplementation increased K. africana biomass production, reducing sugar consumption and ethanol production (by 30, 36.7 and 45%, respectively) over fermentations supplemented with ammonium sulfate. Therefore, asparagine appears to overcome K. africana nutritional limitation in Agave juice. Surprisingly, K. africana produced a high concentration of ethanol. This contrasts to poor ethanol productivities reported for other non-Saccharomyces yeasts indicating a relatively high ethanol tolerance for the K. africana K1 strain. Kloeckera spp. strains are known to synthesize a wide variety of volatile compounds and we have shown that amino-acid supplements influenced the synthesis by K. africana of important metabolites involved in the bouquet of tequila. The findings of this study have revealed important nutritional limitations of non-Saccharomyces yeasts fermenting Agave tequilana juice, and have highlighted the potential of K. africana in tequila production processes.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by CONACYT Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Mexican National Council of Science and Technology) supporting SEP-CONACYT 24547 project. Juan O. Valle-Rodríguez and Guillermo Hernández-Cortés thank CONACYT for the scholarships which were granted.

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  1. Área de Biotecnología Industrial, CIATEJ Centro de Investigación y Asistencia en Tecnología y Diseño del Estado de Jalisco, Av. Normalistas 800, Col. Colinas de la Normal, 44270, Guadalajara, Jal, Mexico

    Juan Octavio Valle-Rodríguez, Guillermo Hernández-Cortés, Jesús Córdova, Mirna Estarrón-Espinosa & Dulce María Díaz-Montaño

  2. Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingenierías, Universidad de Guadalajara, Blvd. Marcelino García Barragán 1421, 44430, Guadalajara, Jal, Mexico

    Jesús Córdova

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  1. Juan Octavio Valle-Rodríguez
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  2. Guillermo Hernández-Cortés
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  3. Jesús Córdova
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  4. Mirna Estarrón-Espinosa
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  5. Dulce María Díaz-Montaño
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Correspondence to Dulce María Díaz-Montaño.

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Valle-Rodríguez, J.O., Hernández-Cortés, G., Córdova, J. et al. Fermentation of Agave tequilana juice by Kloeckera africana: influence of amino-acid supplementations. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 101, 195–204 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-011-9622-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-011-9622-x

Keywords

  • Tequila
  • Alcoholic fermentation
  • Kloeckera africana
  • Ethanol tolerance
  • Nutritional limitation
  • Amino-acids supplementation