Effects of different carbon sources on production of polysaccharides by Agaricus blazei

Mushroom polysaccharides offer a lot of hope for cancer patients and sufferers of many devastating diseases. A variety of polysaccharides from a number of mushroom varieties have been demonstrated to enhance the immune system. Yield and functionally of polysaccharides by fermentation are highly dependent on their culture conditions, such as different microorganisms, medium compositions and environmental parameter. Carbon source is one of the most important parameter affecting polysaccharide fermentations. [1]. In this study the effects of different carbon sources including glucose, lactose, sucrose, manitol, starch, galactose, maltose and fructose in two different media (Complex and synthetic) were investigated. For the determination of polysaccharides produced by the fungus the total polysaccharides which precipitated by absolute alcohol were weighed. The experiments showed that the highest growth and polysaccharide production were obtained when galactose and starch were used as carbon source. The concentration of polysaccharide in both complex and synthetic media were similar. The lowest growth and productivity were also seen in medium containing sucrose.

Reference: 1. Chin–Hang, S. et al. (2004), J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 79: 998–1002.