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Efficacy of acidic pretreatment for the saccharification and fermentation of alginate from brown macroalgae

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Abstract

This study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of acidic pretreatment in increasing the enzymatic digestibility of alginate from brown macroalgae. Pretreatment with 1 % (w/v) sulfuric acid at 120 °C for 30 min produced oligosaccharides, mannuronic acid, and guluronic acid. Enzymatic saccharification of pretreated alginate by alginate lyases produced 52.2 % of the theoretical maximal sugar yield, which was only 7.5 % higher than the sugar yield obtained with unpretreated alginate. Mass spectrometric analyses of products of the two reactions revealed that acidic pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification produced saturated monomers (i.e., mannuronic and guluronic acid) with saturated oligosaccharides and unsaturated monomers (i.e., 4-deoxy-l-erythro-5-hexoseulose uronic acid; DEH), respectively. While DEH is further metabolized by microorganisms, mannuronic acid and guluronic acid are not metabolizable. Because of the poor efficacy in increasing enzymatic digestibility and owing to the formation of non-fermentable saturated monomers, acidic pretreatment cannot be recommended for enzymatic saccharification and fermentation of alginate.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (10052721). Experiments were performed at the Korea University Food Safety Hall for the Institute of Biomedical Science and Food Safety.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea

    Damao Wang, Eun Ju Yun, Sooah Kim, Do Hyoung Kim & Kyoung Heon Kim

  2. Graduate School of Analytical Science and Technology, Asia-Pacific Glycomics Reference Site, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, 34134, Republic of Korea

    Nari Seo & Hyun Joo An

  3. Department of Food and Nutrition, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, 34134, Republic of Korea

    Jae-Han Kim

  4. Environmental Analysis Division, Korea Apparel Testing & Research Institute, Seoul, 02579, Republic of Korea

    Nam Yong Cheong

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  1. Damao Wang
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  2. Eun Ju Yun
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  9. Kyoung Heon Kim
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Correspondence to Kyoung Heon Kim.

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Wang, D., Yun, E.J., Kim, S. et al. Efficacy of acidic pretreatment for the saccharification and fermentation of alginate from brown macroalgae. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 39, 959–966 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-016-1575-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-016-1575-z

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