Ultrasound-assisted extraction of boulardii yeast cell wall polysaccharides: Characterization and its biological functions on early-weaned lambs

Production of yeast cell wall polysaccharides-β-glucan and chitin by using food waste substrates: Biosynthesis, production, extraction, and purification methods

Food waste causes significant environmental and economic challenges worldwide, prompting many nations to prioritize its reduction and recycling. As a nutrient-rich material containing vitamins, proteins, and carbohydrates, it serves as a promising substrate for the cultivation of single-cell microorganisms like yeast. Yeast cell wall polysaccharides (YCWPs), particularly chitin and β-glucans, offer valuable applications in food, pharmaceuticals, and bioprocessing. This review highlights the biosynthesis, production, extraction, and purification of YCWP cultivated on food waste substrates. Key species including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia pastoris, and Candida spp. are discussed, with a focus on optimizing chitin and β-glucan yield through mechanical, chemical, and enzymatic extraction methods. In addition, the structural and functional properties of β-glucans and chitin in maintaining cell wall stability are explored, emphasizing their potential as prebiotics, dietary fibers, and biodegradable packaging materials. This review also examines the valorization of food waste in yeast cultivation, presenting a sustainable bioprocessing strategy for transforming waste into valuable bioproducts.

Ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction, physicochemical properties and prebiotic activities of polysaccharides from Saccharomyces cerevisiae spore wall

Yeast wall polysaccharides (YWPs) are a bioactive compound found in the vegetative cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, contributing to its applications in food and medicine. YWPs have been extensively studied because of their diverse biological activities. Although the yeast spore wall of S. cerevisiae also contains polysaccharides, the biological activities of the components of the spores have received limited attention. In this study, yeast spore wall polysaccharides (YSWPs) were extracted from chs3Δ spores with exposed β-glucan layers via an ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction (UAE) method, and the optimal extraction process was determined through single-factor and orthogonal experiments. The physicochemical properties of YWPs and YSWPs were compared under identical extraction conditions, and the effects of YSWPs on the abundance of the intestinal microflora and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production in vitro were investigated. The results revealed that the optimal UAE process for YSWPs involves an ultrasonic power of 300 W, an ultrasonic duration of 60 min, an enzyme concentration of 1 % (w/w), and an enzymatic hydrolysis time of 4 h. The total sugar content of the extract was found to be 89.20 ± 0.52 %. The primary monosaccharides present in YSWPs are mannose and glucose, which are consistent with those found in the vegetative cell wall polysaccharides. Both YWPs and YSWPs exhibit similar physical properties, however, YSWPs has a smaller particle size, resulting in superior water-holding and oil-holding capacities. In simulations of in vitro colon fermentation, YSWPs can increased the population of beneficial microorganisms in the human intestine while reducing the number of harmful microbial populations. Additionally, it can effectively produced propionate and butyrate. These findings suggest that YSWPs can help maintain the intestinal ecological balance and promote intestinal health.

Unveiling techniques and exploring the potential of Myconutraceticals: Analyzing current applications and future prospects

The escalating demand for natural, nutritionally rich food products underscores the significance of exploring the fungal kingdom, comprising yeast, lichens, molds, and mushrooms, as an abundant reservoir of nutritionalcompounds, secondary metabolites and bioactive components. This paper delves into the nutritional profiles of lichen, yeast, and mushrooms, emphasizing their role as prominent sources of myco-nutraceuticals and functional foods. The growing popularity of eco-friendly extraction techniques for mycochemicals is noted, alongside the exploration of established methods for qualitative and quantitative mycochemical analysis. Notably, studies have affirmed that the incorporation of mushroom and yeast extracts, and their derived compounds, enhances the nutritional profile of meals without compromising desirable dietary attributes. The biological health-promoting properties inherent in extracts and chemicals are also discussed. Anticipated trends the incorporation of myconutrients into functional foods and dietary supplements are highlighted. Finally, challenges hindering the optimal utilization of myconutraceuticals are scrutinized.

Aflatoxin B1: Challenges and Strategies for the Intestinal Microbiota and Intestinal Health of Monogastric Animals

The objective of this review is to investigate the impacts of aflatoxins, particularly aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), on intestinal microbiota, intestinal health, and growth performance in monogastric animals, primarily chickens and pigs, as well as dietary interventions to mitigate these effects. Aflatoxin B1 contamination in feeds disrupts intestinal microbiota, induces immune responses and oxidative damage, increases antioxidant activity, and impairs jejunal cell viability, barrier function, and morphology in the small intestine. These changes compromise nutrient digestion and reduce growth performance in animals. The negative impact of AFB1 on the % change in average daily gain (ΔADG) of chickens and pigs was estimated based on meta-analysis: ΔADG (%)chicken = -0.13 × AFB1 intake per body weight (ng/g·d) and ΔADG (%)pig = -0.74 × AFB1 intake per body weight (µg/kg·d), indicating that increasing AFB1 contamination linearly reduces the growth of animals. To mitigate the harmful impacts of AFB1, various dietary strategies have been effective. Mycotoxin-detoxifying agents include mycotoxin-adsorbing agents, such as clay and yeast cell wall compounds, binding to AFB1 and mycotoxin-biotransforming agents, such as specific strains of Bacillus subtilis and mycotoxin-degrading enzyme, degrading AFB1 into non-toxic metabolites such as aflatoxin D1. Multiple mycotoxin-detoxifying agents are often combined and used together to improve the intestinal health and growth of chickens and pigs fed AFB1-contaminated feeds. In summary, AFB1 negatively impacts intestinal microbiota, induces immune responses and oxidative stress, disrupts intestinal morphology, and impairs nutrient digestion in the small intestine, leading to reduced growth performance. Supplementing multi-component mycotoxin-detoxifying agents in feeds could effectively adsorb and degrade AFB1 co-contaminated with other mycotoxins prior to its absorption in the small intestine, preventing its negative impacts on the intestinal health and growth performance of chickens and pigs.

Yeast polysaccharides: The environmentally friendly polysaccharides with broad application potentials

Yeast cell wall (YCW) polysaccharides, including β-glucans, mannans, chitins, and glycogens, can be extracted from the waste of beer industry. They are environmentally friendly, abundant, inexpensive raw materials, and have shown broad biological activities and application potentials. The exploitation of yeast polysaccharides is of great importance for environmental protection and resource utilization. This paper reviews the structural features and preparation of YCW polysaccharides. The solubility and emulsification of yeast polysaccharides and the properties of binding metal ions are presented. In addition, biological activities such as blood glucose and lipid lowering, immune regulation, antioxidant, promotion of intestinal health, and promotion of wound healing are proposed, highlighting the beneficial effects of yeast polysaccharides on human health. Through modification, the physical and chemical properties of yeast polysaccharides are changed, which emphasizes the promotion of their biological activities and properties. In addition, the food applications of yeast polysaccharides, including the food packaging film, emulsifier, thickening agent, and fat alternatives, are focused and discussed.

A structure-functionality insight into the bioactivity of microbial polysaccharides toward biomedical applications: A review

Microbial polysaccharides (MPs) are biopolymers secreted by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi during their metabolic processes. Compared to polysaccharides derived from plants and animals, MPs have advantages such as wide sources, high production efficiency, and less susceptibility to natural environmental influences. The most attractive feature of MPs lies in their diverse biological activities, such as antioxidative, anti-tumor, antibacterial, and immunomodulatory activities, which have demonstrated immense potential for applications in functional foods, cosmetics, and biomedicine. These bioactivities are precisely regulated by their sophisticated molecular structure. However, the mechanisms underlying this precise regulation are not yet fully understood and continue to evolve. This article presents a comprehensive review of the most representative species of MPs, including their fermentation and purification processes and their biomedical applications in recent years. In particular, this work presents an in-depth analysis into the structure-activity relationships of MPs across multiple molecular levels. Additionally, this review discusses the challenges and prospects of investigating the structure-activity relationships, providing valuable insights into the broad and high-value utilization of MPs.

Impact of ultrasound treatment on the structural modifications and functionality of carbohydrates - A review

Carbohydrates are crucial in food as essential biomolecules, serving as natural components, ingredients, or additives. Carbohydrates have numerous applications in the food industry as stabilizers, thickeners, sweeteners, and humectants. The properties and functionality of the carbohydrates undergo alterations when exposed to various thermal or non-thermal treatments. Ultrasonication is a non-thermal method that modifies the structural arrangement of carbohydrate molecules. These structural changes lead to enhanced gelling and viscous nature of the carbohydrates, thus enhancing their scope of application. Ultrasound may improve carbohydrate functionality in an environmentally sustainable way, leaving no chemical residues. The high-energy ultrasound treatments significantly reduce the molecular size of complex carbohydrates. Sonication parameters like treatment intensity, duration of treatment, and energy applied significantly affect the molecular size, depolymerization, viscosity, structural modifications, and functionality of carbohydrate biomolecules. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of ultrasound-assisted modifications in carbohydrates and the changes in functional properties induced by sonication.

Exploring probiotic effector molecules and their mode of action in gut-immune interactions

Probiotics, live microorganisms that confer health benefits when consumed in adequate amounts, have gained significant attention for their potential therapeutic applications. The beneficial effects of probiotics are believed to stem from their ability to enhance intestinal barrier function, inhibit pathogens, increase beneficial gut microbes, and modulate immune responses. However, clinical studies investigating the effectiveness of probiotics have yielded conflicting results, potentially due to the wide variety of probiotic species and strains used, the challenges in controlling the desired number of live microorganisms, and the complex interactions between bioactive substances within probiotics. Bacterial cell wall components, known as effector molecules, play a crucial role in mediating the interaction between probiotics and host receptors, leading to the activation of signaling pathways that contribute to the health-promoting effects. Previous reviews have extensively covered different probiotic effector molecules, highlighting their impact on immune homeostasis. Understanding how each probiotic component modulates immune activity at the molecular level may enable the prediction of immunological outcomes in future clinical studies. In this review, we present a comprehensive overview of the structural and immunological features of probiotic effector molecules, focusing primarily on Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. We also discuss current gaps and limitations in the field and propose directions for future research to enhance our understanding of probiotic-mediated immunomodulation.

Beneficial insights into postbiotics against colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent and life-threatening cancer types with limited therapeutic options worldwide. Gut microbiota has been recognized as the pivotal determinant in maintaining gastrointestinal (GI) tract homeostasis, while dysbiosis of gut microbiota contributes to CRC development. Recently, the beneficial role of postbiotics, a new concept in describing microorganism derived substances, in CRC has been uncovered by various studies. However, a comprehensive characterization of the molecular identity, mechanism of action, or routes of administration of postbiotics, particularly their role in CRC, is still lacking. In this review, we outline the current state of research toward the beneficial effects of gut microbiota derived postbiotics against CRC, which will represent the key elements of future precision-medicine approaches in the development of novel therapeutic strategies targeting gut microbiota to improve treatment outcomes in CRC.

Mechanisms and applications of probiotics in prevention and treatment of swine diseases

Probiotics can improve animal health by regulating intestinal flora balance, improving the structure of the intestinal mucosa, and enhancing intestinal barrier function. At present, the use of probiotics has been a research hotspot in prevention and treatment of different diseases at home and abroad. This review has summarized the researchers and applications of probiotics in prevention and treatment of swine diseases, and elaborated the relevant mechanisms of probiotics, which aims to provide a reference for probiotics better applications to the prevention and treatment of swine diseases.

Recent advances in medicinal and edible homologous polysaccharides: Extraction, purification, structure, modification, and biological activities

110 kinds of traditional Chinese medicines can be used for medicine and food from Chinese pharmacopoeia in 2021. With the deepening of research in recent years, medicinal and edible homologous (MEH) traditional Chinese medicines have great development and application prospects in many fields. Polysaccharides are one of the major and representative pharmacologically active macromolecules in traditional Chinese medicines with MEH. Moreover, traditional Chinese medicines with MEH have become the main source of natural polysaccharides with safety, high efficiency, and low side effects. Increasing researches have confirmed that MEH polysaccharides (MEHPs) have multiple biological activities both in vitro and in vivo methods, such as antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-tumor, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic activities, and regulating intestinal flora. Additionally, different raw materials, extraction, purification, and chemical modification methods result in differences in the structure and biological activities of MEHPs. The purpose of the present review is to provide comprehensively and systematically reorganized information in the extraction, purification, structure, modification, biological activities, and potential mechanism of MEHPs to support their therapeutic effects and health functions. New valuable insights and theoretical basis for the future researches and developments regarding MEHPs were proposed in the fields of medicine and food.

Extraction, purification, structure, modification, and biological activity of traditional Chinese medicine polysaccharides: A review

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), as the unique natural resource, are rich in polysaccharides, polyphenols, proteins, amino acid, fats, vitamins, and other components. Hence, TCM have high medical and nutritional values. Polysaccharides are one of the most important active components in TCM. Growing reports have indicated that TCM polysaccharides (TCMPs) have various biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-aging, immunomodulatory, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and other activities. Hence, the research progresses and future prospects of TCMPs must be systematically reviewed to promote their better understanding. The aim of this review is to provide comprehensive and systematic recombinant information on the extraction, purification, structure, chemical modification, biological activities, and potential mechanism of TCMPs to support their therapeutic effects and health functions. The findings provide new valuable insights and theoretical basis for future research and development of TCMPs.

Fermented Wheat Bran Polysaccharides Intervention Alters Rumen Bacterial Community and Promotes Rumen Development and Growth Performance in Lambs

There is growing interest in the utilization of plant polysaccharides for the modulation of the rumen bacterial community and enhancement of growth performance in ruminants. Fermented wheat bran polysaccharides (FWBPs), plant polysaccharides, have been shown to improve the growth performance of lambs, but little is known about their effect on rumen bacteria. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of FWBPs supplementation to milk replacer (MR) on the growth performance, blood metabolites, weight and morphology of rumen, rumen fermentation, and rumen bacterial community which were investigated in lambs. Twelve 1.5-month-old crossbred lambs (Dorper × Small-tailed Han Sheep) with an initial body weight (BW) of 11.38 ± 0.19 kg were randomly divided into two groups, namely, the control group and FWBPs group. Compared with the control group, the FWBPs group had a higher average daily weight gain and serum total protein concentrations, and a lower feed: gain ratio. A tendency of increase in final BW and carcass BW was also observed. Administration of FWBPs increased the ruminal papillae width and ruminal butyrate proportion and decreased the concentration of ammonia nitrogen and the proportion of isobutyrate and isovalerate. In addition, the epithelial cell thickness had an increased trend in the FWBPs group. High-throughput sequencing data showed that the relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae_NK3A20_group and Solobacterium was enhanced by FWBP treatment; meanwhile, the relative abundance of NK4A214_group, Megasphaera, and Treponema showed a tendency to be higher than that of the control group. Furthermore, Spearman's correlation analysis revealed that the relative abundances of NK4A214_group, Treponema, and Lachnospiraceae_NK3A20_group were positively correlated with butyrate proportion. Collectively, FWBPs supplementation to MR on lambs altered the rumen bacterial community, promoted rumen development, and improved growth performance.

The Effects of Fucoidan Dietary Supplementation on Growth Performance, Serum Antioxidant Capacity, Immune Function Indices and Intestinal Morphology in Weaned Kids

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of fucoidan dietary supplementation on growth performance, organs’ relative weight, serum anti-oxidation markers, immune function indices and intestinal morphology in weaned kids. A total of 60 2-month-old weaned castrated male kids (Chuanzhong black goat) were used for this 30-day experiment and randomly allocated to four groups. The control group (CON) fed a basal diet, while the other three groups were provided with the same diet further supplemented with fucoidan at 0.1%, 0.3% or 0.5%, namely, F1, F2 and F3 groups, respectively. The results indicated that dietary fucoidan supplementation significantly increased (p < 0.05) the activity of catalase (CAT) when compared to the CON group on day 15. Moreover, the addition of fucoidan at 0.3% and 0.5% significantly increased (p < 0.05) the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD). On day 30, dietary fucoidan supplementation significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the feed conversion rate (FCR), contents of tumor necrosis-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), while it significantly increased (p < 0.05) the activity of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), the content of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and the villus height (VH) of the duodenum. Moreover, dietary 0.3% and 0.5% fucoidan supplementation significantly increased (p < 0.05) the villus height (VH) of the jejunum and ileum and significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the crypt depth (CD) of ileum. In conclusion, dietary fucoidan had positive effects on growth performance, serum anti-oxidation, immune function and intestinal morphology of weaned kids.