Abstract
Media composition and culture conditions for levan production by Bacillus mojavensis (BM-levan) were optimized using Plackett–Burman and Box-Behnken designs. The levan yield was 0.44 g of levan per gram of sucrose consumed. The decomposition of levan revealed an optimal temperature of 228 °C, an endothermic peak at 216.58 °C and a melting enthalpy of 49.28 J/g. The rheological parameters of the aqueous solutions from BM-levan were determined according to temperature and concentration. The solutions were Newtonian at low concentrations and shear thinning occurred at higher concentrations. Moreover, higher temperature increased pseudoplastic behavior. BM-levan dispersions at 8% and 10% w/v accentuated the gel-like behavior and the viscosity of the levan dispersion, while the visual aspect turned similar to milk. Results showed that BM-levan exhibited no hemolytic activity towards human erythrocytes. These results plead in favor of the suitability of BM-levan as an additive for the processing of several functional foods.
Highlights
Levan is endowed with several characteristics that favor its use for biomedical and nutitional purposes, notably biodegradability, sustainability, flexibility, biocompatibility, and eco-friendliness
As described in our previous work, levan was microbially produced by Bacillus mojavensis and purified by ethanol precipitation fractionation [34]
It is interesting to note that BM-levan did not cause hemolysis and thereafter no disturbances of the cell membranes of erythrocytes were detected. These results show that BM-levan would be non-toxic even if used at high concentrations, so it may be safe for use in mammalian cells
Summary
Levan is endowed with several characteristics that favor its use for biomedical and nutitional purposes, notably biodegradability, sustainability, flexibility, biocompatibility, and eco-friendliness. Its composition was shown to includeD-fructofuranosyl residues bound by β-(2,6) in the main chains and β-(2,1) linkages in side chains, with D-glucosyl as a terminal residue [1]. It is derived from a wide range of bacterial genera such as Acetobacter, Bacillus, Erwinia, Gluconobacter, Halomonas, Microbacterium, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus and Zymomonas are [2]. Potential uses of levan have been reported in medicinal, cosmetic and food industries. It serves as an anti-tumor agent [7, 8] and a hypo-cholesterolemic agent [9]. Levan is highly recommended as a thickener, stabilizer, viscosifier, emulsifier and flavour enhancer [19]
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