Exopolysaccharides produced byLactobacillussp.: Biosynthesis and applications

Abstract

Lactobacillus sp. synthesize exopolysaccharides (EPS), including both homo- and heteropolysaccharides, which play an important role in the production of fermented foods, and especially in the dairy industry, improving the gustatory and rheological properties of the finished products. These polymers are generated by starter cultures in situ in fermented foods, and so they are treated as natural thickening agents. As some Lactobacillus strains are generally recognized as safe and have been shown to exhibit probiotic activity, EPS from those bacteria can be used as functional food ingredients, conferring both health and economic benefits to the consumers. However, their industrial applications are hindered by the low yield of EPS from Lactobacillus and high costs of their purification. This review focuses on the latest reports concerning the biosynthesis and properties of Lactobacillus EPS.

A novel exopolysaccharide produced by Lactobacillus coryniformis NA-3 exhibits antioxidant and biofilm-inhibiting properties in vitro

“…have long been established as an integral component in the production of many foods worldwide, and in that capacity they have been classified as 'generally recognized as safe (GRAS)'. LAB-derived EPSs are high molecular weight, long-chain, linear or branched biopolymers secreted to the external environment or adhered to the bacterial cell surface (44).…”

Ability of a Wild Weissella Strain to Modify Viscosity of Fermented Milk

“…EPS are long chain molecules with a heterogeneous composition and structure, consisting of either branched or not, repeating units of sugars, or sugars derivatives, that exhibit a broad range of physicochemical properties (Malang et al, 2015;Galle and Arendt, 2014). They can be classified according to their chemical composition and biosynthesis mechanism into two main groups: homopolysaccharides that contain one neutral monosaccharide type and heteropolysaccharides that consist of three to eight monosaccharides, derivatives of monosaccharides, or substituted monosaccharides (HePS) (Torino et al, 2015;Oleksy and Klewicka, 2016). The molecular weight of EPS is high, with HePS ranging from 10 4 to 10 6 Da, which is generally lower than the average molecular mass of homopolysaccharides, which ranges up to ∼10 7 Da (Sanlibaba and Çakmak, 2016;Oleksy and Klewicka, 2016).…”

Genetic and Biochemical Characterization of an Exopolysaccharide With in vitro Antitumoral Activity Produced by Lactobacillus fermentum YL-11

“…Many EPS-producing LAB species have been isolated and identified, including Streptococcus thermophilus (Lemoine et al, 1997), Lactococcus lactis (Liu et al, 2013), L. casei, L. rhamnosus, L. plantarum, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus curvatus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus johnsonii (Oleksy and Klewicka, 2018), and Lactobacillus fermentum (Ale et al, 2016). Among these LAB species, L. fermentum has attracted attention because it is often used as a starter culture in fermentation and nutritional supplements for complementary therapies (López-Huertas, 2014).…”