Microorganism-Based β-Glucan Production and their Potential as Antioxidant

Abstract

Gemilang Lara Utama, Casey Dio, Elazmanawati Lembong, Yana Cahyana, Roostita L. Balia.

β-glucan can be obtained from various microorganisms, including yeasts, molds and bacteria. Yeasts and molds can produce β-needed from cell walls but the bonding and composition have differences. Meanwhile, bacteria produce β-needed through secondary metabolites. This shows that the β-glucans produced have different characteristics. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a potential yeast in producing β-glucans because most cell wall structures contain polysaccharides of β-1,3-glucan and β-1,6-glucan types. Aspergillus sp. is a mold that is commonly used in producing fermented food products where most of the cell walls are composed of polysaccharides with β-glucan and α-glucan chains. Meanwhile, Xanthomonas campertis which is gram-negative bacteria is known to produce β-(1,2) glucan and Bacillus sp. as gram-positive bacteria showing the activity of the β-glucanase enzyme. Different types of microorganisms will show variations due to different metabolic processes which will produce varying amounts and characteristics of β-glucan affected by the fermentation conditions. β–glucan fermentation of potential and safe microorganisms to be used as additional ingredients. As a food additive, β-glucan can act as an anti-free radical considering its ability to capture free electrons and other biological activities they have. ß-glucan extract from microorganisms with different composition will give different antioxidant activity.