Polysaccharide production by submerged and solid-state cultures from several medicinal higher Basidiomycetes.

Polysaccharides produced by microorganisms represent an industrially unexploited market. An important number of polysaccharides have been isolated from fungi, especially mushrooms, with many interesting biological functions, such as antitumor, hypoglycemic, and immunostimulating activities. In the search of new sources of fungal polysaccharides, the main goal of this research was to test the ability of several species of basidiomycetes, among them various edible mushrooms, to produce both extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs) and intracellular polysaccharides (IPSs). Among 10 species screened for production of EPSs in submerged cultures with glucose, soy oil, and yeast extract, the best results were obtained with Ganoderma lucidum (0.79 g/L EPS) and Pleurotus ostreatus (0.75 g/L EPS). Agitation strongly improved EPS production in most of the studied strains. Eight of 10 species assayed successfully developed basidiomes during synthetic "bag-log" cultivation on a substrate consisting of oak sawdust and corn bran. This work describes for the first time the environmental factors required for fruiting of 4 species under such conditions: Schizophyllum commune, Ganoderma applanatum, Trametes versicolor, and T. trogii. IPSs were extracted from the carpophores. The IPS content of the carpophores varied from 1.4% (G. applanatum) up to 5.5% and 6% in G. lucidum and Grifola frondosa, respectively.