Antioxidant activity of cocoa beans is often influenced by drying and roasting stages. In this study, 13 naturally-existing yeast strains were isolated and used as a starter culture and the resulted antioxidant properties of cocoa beans were determined by total polyphenols content (TPC), 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity and total flavonoids content (TFC). The isolated yeasts were identified via sequencing using universal primers ITS 1 and 4. Results revealed that the 13 naturally-existing yeast strains were Pichia kudriavzevii (MH979676, MH979680, MH979681, and MH979677), Hanseniaspora thailandica (MH979675), Hanseniaspora species (MH979678), Wickerhamomyces species (MH979679), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (MH979683), Hanseniaspora opuntiae (MH979684) and Candida quercitrusa (MH979685, MH979687, MH979686 and MH979682). Yeasts were selected based on the phylogenetic analysis, where each species of different genus (except Candida genus) was used as a starter culture. Dried cocoa beans inoculated with isolates (Hanseniaspora thailandica, Pichia kudriavzevii, Hanseniaspora opuntiae, Hanseniaspora species, Wickerhamomyces species and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) contained TPC, TFC and DPPH ranging from 21.82 to 69.81 mg/g Gallic acid (GAE), 1.68–6.33 mg/g Catechin and 113.85 to 328 ìmoles/g Trolox (TE), respectively. It is noted that there was no significant change of the antioxidant activity between isolates at 24-h to 120-h fermentation. Based on the current study, Hanseniaspora thailandica and Pichia kudriavzevii are the potential starter cultures that result in cocoa beans with higher antioxidant content (p < 0.05) compared to natural fermentation.

可可豆的抗氧化活性通常受干燥和烘烤阶段的影响。在这项研究中，分离了13种天然存在的酵母菌株，并将其用作发酵剂，可可豆的抗氧化特性由总多酚含量（TPC），2，2-二苯基-1-吡啶并肼基（DPPH）自由基确定清除活性和总黄酮含量（TFC）。通过使用通用引物ITS 1和4进行测序，鉴定了分离的酵母。结果显示，这13种天然存在的酵母菌株为库氏毕赤酵母（MH979676，MH979680，MH979681和MH979677），泰国汉斯氏菌（MH979675），汉斯氏菌属（MH979678） ，Wickerhamomyces种（MH979679），酿酒酵母（MH979683），汉氏假单胞​​菌（MH979684）和栎假丝酵母（MH979685，MH979687，MH979686和MH979682）。根据系统发育分析选择酵母，其中将不同属（念珠菌属除外）的每种菌种用作发酵剂。接种了分离株的干可可豆（Hanseniaspora thailandica，Pichia kudriavzevii，Hanseniaspora opuntiae，Hanseniaspora种，Wickerhamomyces种和酿酒酵母）TPC，TFC和DPPH的范围分别为21.82至69.81 mg / g没食子酸（GAE），1.68–6.33 mg / g儿茶素和113.85至328 mol / g Trolox（TE）。应当指出，在24-120小时发酵至120-小时发酵中，分离物之间的抗氧化剂活性没有显着变化。根据当前的研究，Hanseniaspora thailandica和Pichia kudriavzevii是潜在的发酵剂，与天然发酵相比，可可豆的抗氧化剂含量更高（p <0.05）。