Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is a sea

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is a seasonal fruit with important health benefits. In this study, persimmon
use in wine and condiment production was investigated using molecular methods to identify the yeast
and acetic acid bacteria (AAB) isolated from the alcoholic fermentation and acetification of the fruit.
Alcoholic fermentation was allowed to occur either spontaneously, or by inoculation with a commercial
Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine strain, while acetification was always spontaneous; all these processes
were performed in triplicates. Non-Saccharomyces yeast species were particularly abundant during the
initial and mid-alcoholic fermentation stages, but S. cerevisiae became dominant toward the end of these
processes. During spontaneous fermentation, S. cerevisiae Sc1 was the predominant strain isolated
throughout, while the commercial strain of S. cerevisiae was the most common strain isolated from the
inoculated fermentations. The main non-Saccharomyces strains isolated included Pichia guilliermondii,
Hanseniaspora uvarum, Zygosaccharomyces florentinus and Cryptococcus sp. A distinct succession of AAB
was observed during the acetification process. Acetobacter malorun was abundant during the initial and
mid-stages, while Gluconacetobacter saccharivorans was the main species during the final stages of these
acetifications. Four additional AAB species, Acetobacter pasteurianus, Acetobacter syzygii, Gluconacetobacter
intermedius and Gluconacetobacter europaeus, were also detected. We observed 28 different AAB
genotypes, though only 6 of these were present in high numbers (between 25%e60%), resulting in a high
biodiversity index.