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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Healthy Processed Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #346460
Research Project: Adding Value to Plant-Based Waste Materials through Development of Novel, Healthy Ingredients and Functional Foods

Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research

Title: Efficient production of fungal chitosan utilizing an advanced freeze-thawing method; quality and activity studies

Author
item BAN, ZHAOJUN - Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel
item HOREV, BATIA - Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel
item RUTENBERG, ROI - Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel
item DANAY, OFER - Migal Galilee Research Institute
item Bilbao-Sainz, Cristina
item McHugh, Tara
item RODOV, VICTOR - Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel
item POVERENOV, ELENA - Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel

Submitted to: Food Hydrocolloids
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/7/2018
Publication Date: 3/9/2018
Citation: Ban, Z., Horev, B., Rutenberg, R., Danay, O., Bilbao-Sainz, C., McHugh, T.H., Rodov, V., Poverenov, E. 2018. Efficient production of fungal chitosan utilizing an advanced freeze-thawing method; quality and activity studies. Food Hydrocolloids. 81:380-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2018.03.010.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2018.03.010

Interpretive Summary: Currently, most of the commercial chitosan is derived from crustaceans, shrimps and crabs. However, such animal-sourced chitosan is unacceptable for vegetarians and people who do not consume crustaceans because of religious, medicinal or other restrictions. The cell wall of mushrooms can be considered an alternative non-animal source for chitosan production. Moreover, instead of high-quality mushrooms, chitosan production may utilize mushroom industry waste. However, in order to increase fungal chitosan application, new effective and feasible approaches for its production are needed. In this study, fungal chitosan was produced adding a freeze-thawing cycle step to the classical alkali deacetylation protocol. The new protocol resulted in up to 150% increase in the received chitosan yield and in up to 140% increase in its deacetylation degree (DD) as compared to the chitosan produced by classical protocol. The received fungal chitosan demonstrated antimicrobial activity against B. subtilis, E. coli bacterium and S. cerevisiae yeast and satisfactory physical parameters.

Technical Abstract: An advanced method for effective production of non-animal chitosan is reported. In this study chitosan was produced from brown Agaricus bisporus, white Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus mushrooms utilizing classical alkali deacetylation protocol (PI) and a new freeze-thawing cycle involving protocol (PII). The PII resulted in up to 150% increase in the received chitosan yield and in up to 140% increase in its deacetylation degree (DD) as compared to the chitosan produced by classical protocol PI. The fungal chitosan prepared by the PII protocol was comprehensively analyzed and compared to the commercial crustacean-sourced chitosan. The prepared fungal chitosan was found to have good solubility, white color and mushroom-type dependent physical properties (molecular weight and viscosity). Antimicrobial studies revealed remarkable activity of the fungal chitosan against Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis, Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. The presented study describes an effective method for the production of highly desired in food industry non-animal chitosan. Although developed for fungal chitosan, the technique can also be used for additional sources. Moreover, the safe freeze-thaw method that significantly increases polymer reactivity could be utilized for modifications of other edible hydrocolloids.