Discovery of alcohol dehydrogenase from mushrooms and application to alcoholic beverages

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the main microorganism used in alcoholic beverage brewing, because this microbe has alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity. We have recently discovered that some genera of mushrooms produce alcohol dehydrogenase, and made wine, beer and sake using mushrooms in place of S. cerevisiae. The highest alcohol concentrations in the wine, beer and sake were achieved with Pleurotus ostreatus (2648 mM, 12.2%), Tricholoma matsutake (1069 mM, 4.6%) and Agaricus blazei (1736 mM, 8.0%). In the case of wine made using A. blazei, the same alcohol concentration (1736 mM, 8.0%) was produced under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. This wine produced by A. blazei contained about 0.68% β- -glucan, which is known to have preventive effects against cancer. The wine made using Flammulina velutipes showed thrombosis-preventing activity, giving a prolonged thrombin clotting time 2.2-fold that of the control. Thus, alcoholic beverages made using mushrooms seem to be a functional food source which can be expected to have preventive effects against cancer and thrombosis.