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Title: PRODUCTION OF THE BIOACTIVE BETA-GLUCAN SCHIZOPHYLLAN FROM CORN FIBER

Author
item Leathers, Timothy
item Nunnally, Melinda
item Price, Neil

Submitted to: Society of Industrial Microbiology Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/25/2005
Publication Date: 8/25/2005
Citation: Leathers, T.D., Nunnally, M.S., Price, N.P. 2005. Production of the bioactive beta-glucan, schizophyllan, from corn fiber [abstract]. Society of Industrial Microbiology. p. 95.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Corn fiber is an abundant coproduct of the wet-milling process, primarily composed of seed pericarp or the arabinoxylan-rich outer kernel covering, together with up to 25% adherent starch. Nearly six billion pounds of corn fiber are generated annually, most of which is used as a low-value feed component. Schizophyllum commune strain ATCC 38548 grew well on a medium containing alkaline hydrogen peroxide-pretreated corn fiber as a sole carbon source, and clarified the culture medium within seven days. The strain preferentially utilized the starch component of corn fiber for growth and production of authentic schizophyllan, as confirmed by permethylation analysis. Schizophyllan is a homoglucan that possesses a beta-1,3-linked backbone with single beta-1,6-linked glucose side chains at about every third residue. Schizophyllan was separated from the starch-depleted arabinoxylan fraction by differential precipitation. Schizophyllan can form oxygen-impermeable films similar to pullulan and is commercially produced for clinical use as a cancer immunotherapeutic agent.