Analysis of the difference between aged and degenerated pit mud microbiome in fermentation cellars for Chinese Luzhou-flavor baijiu by metatranscriptomics.

Backgroud: Chinese Luzhou-flavor baijiu (LFB) was fermented in an underground cellar, and the bottom and side of the cellar were covered with pit muds (PMs), where the metabolic activity of the microorganisms had a significant effect on the LFB quality. PMs can be divided into aged pit mud (AP) and degenerated pit mud (DP), thus, the qualities of LFB generated from AP and DP were different. In this essay, metatranscriptomics method was applied to illustrate the differences of the two PMs, as well as to search out the pivotal microorganisms and genes influencing the quality of LFB.