Novel Exopolysaccharide Produced from Fermented Bamboo Shoot-IsolatedLactobacillus Fermentum

This study aimed at providing a route towards the production of a novel exopolysaccharide (EPS) from fermented bamboo shoot-isolatedLactobacillus fermentum. A lactic acid bacteria strain, with high EPS production ability, was isolated from fermented bamboo shoots. This strain, R-49757, was identified in the BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Ghent University, Belgium by the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase gene sequencing method, and it was namedLb. fermentumMC3. The molecular mass of the EPS measured via gel permeation chromatography was found to be 9.85 x 10(4)Da. Moreover, the monosaccharide composition in the EPS was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Consequently, the EPS was discovered to be a heteropolysaccharide with the appearance of two main sugars-D-glucose and D-mannose-in the backbone. The results of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analyses prove the repeating unit of this polysaccharide to be [-> 6)-beta-D-Glcp-(1 -> 3)-beta-D-Manp-(1 -> 6)-beta-D-Glcp-(1 ->](n), which appears to be a new EPS. The obtained results open up an avenue for the production of novel EPSs for biomedical applications.