Activities

Research Activity

At present NISR is carrying out research in a project as follows:

Molecular breeding of brewing microorganisms with high functionality.

Koji mold plays a most important role in soy sauce brewing, in which all materials, the soybeans and the wheat, are cultured with it to make koji. Much effort has been made to develop koji mold suitable for soy sauce brewing. It has, so far, been difficult to genetically analyze koji mold, but with recent progress in molecular biology, and EST and genome analysis of koji mold, Aspergillus oryzae, it is now possible to study koji mold genetically. In this study, the functional analysis of the genes of koji mold in soy sauce brewing is being studied using newly developed techniques and information. From this research, we intend to develop a new koji mold, which is useful for koji making and improving the quality of soy sauce.