Abstract: In this study, persimmon wine was produced with the wild type Saccharomyces cerevisiae and four mutant strains (PDE1/Dpde1, Dpde1/Dpde1, PDE2/Dpde2 and Dpde2/Dpde2). Changes in the physicochemical properties including soluble solids content (SSC), total sugar, alcohol content and pH, the contents of total phenols and flavonoids, and antioxidant properties including scavenging capacities against 2,2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical (ABTS) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals and total reducing power were detected during the fermentation process. The volatile components of five persimmon wines were analyzed and compared by headspace solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that the fermentation end point was reached at day 12, and the fermentation rates of the four mutants were faster than that of the wild-type strain, of which the Dpde2/Dpde2 strain had the fastest fermentation rate. The total flavonoids content and antioxidant ability of persimmon wines fermented with the four mutants were higher than those of the wine fermented with the wild-type strain. The wine produced with Dpde2/Dpde2 had the strongest antioxidant ability. No significant difference in volatile substances profiles was observed between the mutants and the wild-type strain, except that the relative content of esters in the persimmon wine fermented by PDE2/Dpde2 was higher than that of other persimmon wines.

Key words: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, Mopan persimmon wine, antioxidant ability, volatile substances