Recovery of Chitin-Glucan Complex in By-products Obtained from Industrial Yeast Fermentation

Abstract

Chitin-glucan complex (CGC) copolymer is a cell wall component in fungi and yeasts, used in medicine and cosmetics applications. This study investigated the production of CGC from Aureobasidium pullulans KSY-0516, which is used in the industrial production of β-1,3/1,6-glucan. The amino acid composition of the A. pullulans fermentation by-products was determined using an amino acid analyzer. The total amount of amino acid was 6.67 g/100 g of by-product. Additionally, the recovery of the β-glucan complex from the A. pullulans fermentation by-products was 8.44 g/100 g of by-product using ethanol precipitation. The CGC yield was determined from the by-products after yeast fermentation. The recovery of CGC was 14.83% for the yeast cell wall obtained by alkaline extraction. The CGC and β-glucan were characterized using Fourier transform infrared analysis, and compared with crab shell chitin and laminarin. This study aimed to examine the potential, as a useful substrate for biotechnology, by producing CGC from yeast cultivation by-products.