Five different isolates of Aspergillus and one of Mucor were compared with a Japanese commercial strain of Aspergillus oryzae for proteolytic activity on wheat bran substrate. One isolate of Aspergillus with superior protease production, identified as Aspergillus flavus var. columnaris, showed no detectable aflatoxin production on glutinous rice or soybean substrate. Preliminary tests using thi...

We attempted to breed phage-insensitive strains of Tetragenococcus halophila D10. Phage contact during selection initially caused the occurrence of lysogeny. Subsequently, we screened phage-insensitive mutants by replica plating so that mutant cells did not touch the phage during selection. Two strains were selected from about 150,000 strains. They grew normally in soy sauce mash (moromi) in th...

The highly halotolerant and allopolyploid yeast Zygosaccharomyces rouxii is industrially used for the food production in high concentrations of salt, such as brewing soy sauce and miso paste. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Z. rouxii NBRC 1876 isolated from miso paste.

A soy sauce koji mold, Aspergillus flavus var. columnaris Raper and Fennel (ATCC 44310), was treated with UV irradiation to obtain mutant strains possessing high protease activities, high amylase activities, and light-colored conidia. Selected mutant strains were tested for toxicity, and some were found acutely toxic to weanling rats, although all were negative for aflatoxin production.

Aspergillus oryzae is a common fungus for traditional fermentation in Asia, such as spirit, soybean paste, and soy sauce fermentation. We report the 36.7-Mbp draft genome sequence of A. oryzae 100-8 and compared it to the published genome sequence of A. oryzae 3.042.