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Production of chondroitin sulfate and chondroitin

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Abstract

The production of microbial polysaccharides has recently gained much interest because of their potential biotechnological applications. Several pathogenic bacteria are known to produce capsular polysaccharides, which provide a protection barrier towards harsh environmental conditions, and towards host defences in case of invasive infections. These capsules are often composed of glycosaminoglycan-like polymers. Glycosaminoglycans are essential structural components of the mammalian extracellular matrix and they have several applications in the medical, veterinary, pharmaceutical and cosmetic field because of their peculiar properties. Most of the commercially available glycosaminoglycans have so far been extracted from animal sources, and therefore the structural similarity of microbial capsular polysaccharides to these biomolecules makes these bacteria ideal candidates as non-animal sources of glycosaminoglycan-derived products. One example is hyaluronic acid which was formerly extracted from hen crests, but is nowadays produced via Streptococci fermentations. On the other hand, no large scale biotechnological production processes for heparin and chondrotin sulfate have been developed. The larger demand of these biopolymers compared to hyaluronic acid (tons vs kilograms), due to the higher titre in the final product (grams vs milligrams/dose), and the scarce scientific effort have hampered the successful development of fermentative processes. In this paper we present an overview of the diverse applications and production methods of chondroitin reported so far in literature with a specific focus on novel microbial biotechnological approaches.

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  1. Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, Second University of Naples, via De Crecchio n°7, 80138, Naples, Italy

    Chiara Schiraldi, Donatella Cimini & Mario De Rosa

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  1. Chiara Schiraldi
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  2. Donatella Cimini
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Correspondence to Chiara Schiraldi.

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Schiraldi, C., Cimini, D. & De Rosa, M. Production of chondroitin sulfate and chondroitin. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 87, 1209–1220 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2677-1

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