Marine Exopolysaccharides: Health Potential and Other Industrial Applications

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 10909

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Oceans are one of the largest reserves of organisms on our planet, living in a wide range of habitats and environmental conditions, mostly still underexplored. The diverse ecosystems have driven a variety of biological adaptations, leading to great potential for the discovery of new products which are useful for any biotechnological application. Marine microorganisms (e.g., microalgae, bacteria, fungi) are one of the most underutilized biological resources. They represent a huge diversity and are advantageous compared to other raw materials as they can be easily handled and cultivated under a controlled environment and scaled up to large volumes. Some of them produce exopolysaccharides that are released in the medium, from which they can be easily recovered. Exopolysaccharides from these organisms represent a source of safe, biocompatible, biodegradable, and valuable renewable products with specific biological functions, making them incredibly attractive for new exploitation in various industrial sectors. The route toward the development of marine exopolysaccharides includes the improvement of cultivation methods to increase production yields, the characterization of molecules, and the search for biological activities, including comprehension of the action mechanism.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide recent reviews and research articles in the field of marine exopolysaccharides, highlighting the identification of new producers, production and/or extraction methods to recover them, their characterization, and their potential application in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and any other industrial sector.

Dr. Céline Laroche
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • exopolysaccharide
  • microorganism
  • microalgae
  • bacteria
  • fungi
  • characterization
  • health
  • industrial application

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 15648 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Diversity of Red Microalgae for Exopolysaccharide Production
by Aldo Borjas Esqueda, Christine Gardarin and Céline Laroche
Mar. Drugs 2022, 20(4), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/md20040246 - 31 Mar 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3053
Abstract
Microalgae constitute a remarkable biological diversity but a limited number of them have been the object of study for their ability to produce exoplysaccharides (EPS). Among them, the red marine microalgae Porphyridium or Rhodella produce sulphated EPS, exhibiting some biological activities with potential [...] Read more.
Microalgae constitute a remarkable biological diversity but a limited number of them have been the object of study for their ability to produce exoplysaccharides (EPS). Among them, the red marine microalgae Porphyridium or Rhodella produce sulphated EPS, exhibiting some biological activities with potential interest in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. EPS from Porphyridium and Rhodella being relatively similar in their composition, it has long been considered that all the red microalgae produced similar EPS and no attention was paid to other red microalgae. The objective of our work was then to explore the diversity of red microalgae for the production of EPS, focusing in this first step on the screening of the strains for their ability to produce EPS and preliminary structural characterization. The study was conducted with 11 microalgae strains belonging to the proteorhodophytina subphylum. All microalgae were able to produce EPS, released in the culture medium (strains belonging to Porphyridiophyceae and Rhodellophyceae classes) or remaining bound to the cells (strains from Stylonematophyceae class). The analysis of monosaccharides composition was found significantly different, with for instance high levels of glucuronic acids in the EPS from C. japonica and N. cyanea, but also strong differences in the sulphation degrees of polymers (between 1.2 and 28.7% eq. SO4). Full article
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15 pages, 2188 KiB  
Article
Effect of Different Initial Fermentation pH on Exopolysaccharides Produced by Pseudoalteromonas agarivorans Hao 2018 and Identification of Key Genes Involved in Exopolysaccharide Synthesis via Transcriptome Analysis
by Yuhao Ju, Kai Shan, Wenlin Liu, Chenxiang Xi, Yiling Zhang, Wei Wang, Chunlei Wang, Ruiwen Cao, Wenxing Zhu, Haiyong Wang, Yanqiu Zhao and Lujiang Hao
Mar. Drugs 2022, 20(2), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/md20020089 - 20 Jan 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2654
Abstract
Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are carbohydrate polymers produced and secreted by microorganisms. In a changing marine environment, EPS secretion can reduce damage from external environmental disturbances to microorganisms. Meanwhile, EPSs have promising application prospects in the fields of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Changes in external [...] Read more.
Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are carbohydrate polymers produced and secreted by microorganisms. In a changing marine environment, EPS secretion can reduce damage from external environmental disturbances to microorganisms. Meanwhile, EPSs have promising application prospects in the fields of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Changes in external environmental pH have been shown to affect the synthesis of EPSs in microorganisms. In this study, we analyzed the effects of different initial fermentation pHs on the production, monosaccharide composition, and antioxidant activity of the EPSs of Pseudoalteromonas agarivorans Hao 2018. In addition, the transcriptome sequence of P. agarivorans Hao 2018 under different initial fermentation pH levels was determined. GO and KEGG analyses showed that the differentially expressed genes were concentrated in the two-component regulatory system and bacterial chemotaxis pathways. We further identified the expression of key genes involved in EPS synthesis during pH changes. In particular, the expression of genes encoding the glucose/galactose MFS transporter, phosphomannomutase, and mannose-1-phosphate guanylyltransferase was upregulated when the environmental pH increased, thus promoting EPS synthesis. This study not only contributes to elucidating the environmental adaptation mechanisms of P. agarivorans, but also provides important theoretical guidance for the directed development of new products using biologically active polysaccharides. Full article
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12 pages, 1969 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Bioactivities and Biosynthesis of Angucycline/Angucyclinone Derivatives Derived from Gephyromycinifex aptenodytis gen. nov., sp. nov.
by Wen-Zhuo Zhu, Shu-Heng Wang, Hui-Min Gao, Ya-Ming Ge, Jun Dai, Xiao-Ling Zhang and Qiao Yang
Mar. Drugs 2022, 20(1), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/md20010034 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2327
Abstract
Strain NJES-13T is the type strain and currently the only species of the newly established actinobacteria genera Aptenodytes in the family Dermatophilaceae isolated from the gut microbiota of the Antarctic emperor penguin. This strain demonstrated excellent bioflocculation activity with bacteria-derived exopolysaccharides (EPSs). [...] Read more.
Strain NJES-13T is the type strain and currently the only species of the newly established actinobacteria genera Aptenodytes in the family Dermatophilaceae isolated from the gut microbiota of the Antarctic emperor penguin. This strain demonstrated excellent bioflocculation activity with bacteria-derived exopolysaccharides (EPSs). Moreover, it produced bioactive angucycline/angucyclinone derivatives (ADs) and contained one type III polyketide synthase (T3PKS), thus demonstrating great potential to produce novel bioactive compounds. However, the low productivity of the potential new AD metabolite was the main obstacle for its chemical structure elucidation. In this study, to increase the concentration of targeted metabolites, the influence of cellular morphology on AD metabolism in strain NJES-13T was determined using glass bead-enhanced fermentation. Based on the cellular ultra-structural observation driven by bacterial EPSs, and quantitative analysis of the targeted metabolites, the successful increasing of the productivity of three AD metabolites was achieved. Afterward, a new frigocyclinone analogue was isolated and then identified as 2-hydroxy-frigocyclinone, as well as two other known ADs named 2-hydroxy-tetrangomycin (2-HT) and gephyromycin (GPM). Three AD metabolites were found to demonstrate different bioactivities. Both C-2 hydroxyl substitutes, 2-hydroxy-tetrangomycin and 2-hydroxy-frigocyclinone, exhibited variable inhibitory activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans. Moreover, the newly identified 2-hydroxy-frigocyclinone also showed significant cytotoxicity against three tested human-derived cancerous cell lines (HL-60, Bel-7402 and A549), with all obtained IC50 values less than 10 µM. Based on the genetic analysis after genomic mining, the plausible biogenetic pathway of the three bioactive ADs in strain NJES-13T was also proposed. Full article
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Review

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43 pages, 7687 KiB  
Review
Exopolysaccharides from Microalgae and Cyanobacteria: Diversity of Strains, Production Strategies, and Applications
by Céline Laroche
Mar. Drugs 2022, 20(5), 336; https://doi.org/10.3390/md20050336 - 21 May 2022
Cited by 44 | Viewed by 4659
Abstract
Microalgae and cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms that can produce/accumulate biomolecules with industrial interest. Among these molecules, EPSs are macromolecular polysaccharidic compounds that present biological activities and physico-chemical properties, allowing to consider their valorization in diverse commercial markets, such as cosmetic, therapeutic, nutraceutic, or [...] Read more.
Microalgae and cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms that can produce/accumulate biomolecules with industrial interest. Among these molecules, EPSs are macromolecular polysaccharidic compounds that present biological activities and physico-chemical properties, allowing to consider their valorization in diverse commercial markets, such as cosmetic, therapeutic, nutraceutic, or hydrocolloids areas. The number of microalgae and cyanobacteria strains described to produce such EPSs has increased in recent years as, among the 256 producing strains gathered in this review, 86 were published in the last 10 years (~33%). Moreover, with the rise of research on microalgae EPSs, a variety of monosaccharides compositions have been discovered, highlighting the versatility of these organisms. If some production strategies can be applied to increase EPS production yields, it appears that case by case studies are needed to promote EPS synthesis by a strain, as many responses exist. This paper proposes an up-to-date state of the art of the diversity of microalgae and cyanobacteria EPS-producing strains, associated to the variability of compositions. The strategies for the production and extraction of the polymers are also discussed. Finally, an overview of the biological activities and physico-chemical properties allow one to consider their use on several commercial markets. Full article
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