Bioconversion of mushroom chitin-rich waste into valuable chitin oligosaccharides using a combined approach of biocatalysis and precision fermentation
- Author
- Alex Windels (UGent) , Luna Declerck (UGent) , Sofie Snoeck, Wouter Demeester (UGent) , Chiara Guidi (UGent) , Tom Desmet (UGent) and Marjan De Mey (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
-
- Accelerated adaptive laboratory evolution for conversion of probiotic hosts towards sustainable and resilient cell factories for high-value applications: Microbial synthesis of defined chitinpentaose as proof-of-concept
- Unraveling amino sugar-phosphate stress regulation and response mechanisms in Escherichia coli to enable the development of microbial cell factories for the synthesis of amino sugar containing compounds
- MyCOS - Synthetic biology for a sustainable conversion of fungal chitin-rich waste streams into valuable biobased chitooligosaccharides for plant health
- Enlisting synthetic fungal-bacterial consortia to produce multi-cellular mycelium-based ELMs with computational capability
- Abstract
- The shift toward a circular economy has increased efforts to derive valuable chemicals from renewable resources, including chitin-rich waste. Mushroom cultivation generates significant waste, particularly the stalks left behind on breeding beds, which contain a substantial amount of chitin with untapped potential. This research establishes a proof of concept for valorizing this waste stream by converting it into valuable chitin oligosaccharides, which have applications across food, feed, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. Using a combined approach of enzymatic saccharification with five chitinolytic enzymes, followed by precision fermentation of the resulting N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc), we successfully produced defined chitinpentaose. Chitin extracted from Agaricus bisporus brown demonstrated the highest saccharification efficiency, achieving a GlcNAc conversion of 31 ± 1% (w/w). Our findings highlight the necessity of purifying the saccharification product to ensure product specificity during fermentation, although the production strain’s growth remained suboptimal compared to commercially available GlcNAc. Using an engineered E. coli strain, we achieved pure chitinpentaose, with a yield of 0.0327 g/L at a 10 mL scale and production levels (g/OD600) comparable to those obtained with HPLC-grade commercial GlcNAc. This study provides a foundation for further research aimed at improving biocatalyst recycling and optimizing the growth phase, thereby enhancing the cost-efficiency and scalability of this sustainable bioconversion process.
- Keywords
- mushroom waste, chitin, chitin oligosaccharides, GlcNAc, biocatalysis, fermentation, ESCHERICHIA-COLI, BIOLOGICAL-ACTIVITIES, N-ACETYLGLUCOSAMINE, CHITOSAN OLIGOSACCHARIDES, CULTIVATED MUSHROOMS, AGARICUS-BISPORUS, CHITOOLIGOSACCHARIDES, DEPOLYMERIZATION, IDENTIFICATION, PIGMENTS
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01JRWQGPXPYQ6JRKG2MTEJ10Q7
- MLA
- Windels, Alex, et al. “Bioconversion of Mushroom Chitin-Rich Waste into Valuable Chitin Oligosaccharides Using a Combined Approach of Biocatalysis and Precision Fermentation.” JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY, vol. 73, no. 16, 2025, pp. 9769–81, doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.5c00928.
- APA
- Windels, A., Declerck, L., Snoeck, S., Demeester, W., Guidi, C., Desmet, T., & De Mey, M. (2025). Bioconversion of mushroom chitin-rich waste into valuable chitin oligosaccharides using a combined approach of biocatalysis and precision fermentation. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY, 73(16), 9769–9781. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c00928
- Chicago author-date
- Windels, Alex, Luna Declerck, Sofie Snoeck, Wouter Demeester, Chiara Guidi, Tom Desmet, and Marjan De Mey. 2025. “Bioconversion of Mushroom Chitin-Rich Waste into Valuable Chitin Oligosaccharides Using a Combined Approach of Biocatalysis and Precision Fermentation.” JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 73 (16): 9769–81. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c00928.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Windels, Alex, Luna Declerck, Sofie Snoeck, Wouter Demeester, Chiara Guidi, Tom Desmet, and Marjan De Mey. 2025. “Bioconversion of Mushroom Chitin-Rich Waste into Valuable Chitin Oligosaccharides Using a Combined Approach of Biocatalysis and Precision Fermentation.” JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 73 (16): 9769–9781. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.5c00928.
- Vancouver
- 1.Windels A, Declerck L, Snoeck S, Demeester W, Guidi C, Desmet T, et al. Bioconversion of mushroom chitin-rich waste into valuable chitin oligosaccharides using a combined approach of biocatalysis and precision fermentation. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY. 2025;73(16):9769–81.
- IEEE
- [1]A. Windels et al., “Bioconversion of mushroom chitin-rich waste into valuable chitin oligosaccharides using a combined approach of biocatalysis and precision fermentation,” JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY, vol. 73, no. 16, pp. 9769–9781, 2025.
@article{01JRWQGPXPYQ6JRKG2MTEJ10Q7,
abstract = {{The shift toward a circular economy has increased efforts to derive valuable chemicals from renewable resources, including chitin-rich waste. Mushroom cultivation generates significant waste, particularly the stalks left behind on breeding beds, which contain a substantial amount of chitin with untapped potential. This research establishes a proof of concept for valorizing this waste stream by converting it into valuable chitin oligosaccharides, which have applications across food, feed, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. Using a combined approach of enzymatic saccharification with five chitinolytic enzymes, followed by precision fermentation of the resulting N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc), we successfully produced defined chitinpentaose. Chitin extracted from Agaricus bisporus brown demonstrated the highest saccharification efficiency, achieving a GlcNAc conversion of 31 ± 1% (w/w). Our findings highlight the necessity of purifying the saccharification product to ensure product specificity during fermentation, although the production strain’s growth remained suboptimal compared to commercially available GlcNAc. Using an engineered E. coli strain, we achieved pure chitinpentaose, with a yield of 0.0327 g/L at a 10 mL scale and production levels (g/OD600) comparable to those obtained with HPLC-grade commercial GlcNAc. This study provides a foundation for further research aimed at improving biocatalyst recycling and optimizing the growth phase, thereby enhancing the cost-efficiency and scalability of this sustainable bioconversion process.}},
author = {{Windels, Alex and Declerck, Luna and Snoeck, Sofie and Demeester, Wouter and Guidi, Chiara and Desmet, Tom and De Mey, Marjan}},
issn = {{0021-8561}},
journal = {{JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY}},
keywords = {{mushroom waste,chitin,chitin oligosaccharides,GlcNAc,biocatalysis,fermentation,ESCHERICHIA-COLI,BIOLOGICAL-ACTIVITIES,N-ACETYLGLUCOSAMINE,CHITOSAN OLIGOSACCHARIDES,CULTIVATED MUSHROOMS,AGARICUS-BISPORUS,CHITOOLIGOSACCHARIDES,DEPOLYMERIZATION,IDENTIFICATION,PIGMENTS}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{16}},
pages = {{9769--9781}},
title = {{Bioconversion of mushroom chitin-rich waste into valuable chitin oligosaccharides using a combined approach of biocatalysis and precision fermentation}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c00928}},
volume = {{73}},
year = {{2025}},
}
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