Leveduras da fermentação do cacau amazônico: caracterização molecular e perfil de enzimas extracelulares

Abstract

Scientific literature the most important step to obtain quality chocolate. The fermentation process is carried out by microorganisms naturally present in the utensils used to open the fruits, in the fermentation box and in the environment. The main microorganisms that carry out the fermentation of cacao are: yeasts, lactic and acetic bacteria. In order to obtain quality fermented almonds, it is essential to understand the role of yeasts, since these microorganisms initiate fermentation and remain throughout the process. The objective of this study was to isolate and identify the yeasts present during the cocoa fermentation and to investigate the ability of the isolated species to produce hydrolytic enzymes. The fermentations were carried out in farms, in the same way that the owners performed, both with duration of seven days and sample collection every 24 hours, for the identification of the yeasts the sequencing of the D1 / D2 region fragment of the 26S rRNA gene was carried out and amplified with universal primers for NL1GC and LS2 eukaryotes, at all fermentation times the temperature and pH of the samples were measured. A total of 44 yeast isolates were obtained from Medicilândia and 29 from Tucumã. In Medicilândia, the species Pichia manshurica and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were identified. In Tucumã five species Pichia fermentans, P. kudriavzevii, P. manshurica, S. cerevisiae and Zygosaccharomyces bailii. For the potency test in Medicilândia, 3 yeasts showed potential for the production of amylase, 10 for cellulase, 1 for lipase and 2 for proteinase, the yeasts that produced the enzymes were S. cerevisiae. In Tucumã S. cerevisiae did not produce any enzyme, the Pichia species obtained a positive result for the enzymes amylase, cellulase and phospholipase. Thus, this study proposes the importance of yeasts during cocoa fermentation, since the dominance of the Pichia and Saccharomyces genera was observed in the two localities of this research, and the production of hydrolytic enzymes from these species, which suggests that these yeasts can be used in biotechnological processes in the food industry.