Tramesan, a novel polysaccharide from Trametes versicolor. Structural characterization and biological effects

PLoS One. 2017 Aug 22;12(8):e0171412. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171412. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Mushrooms represent a formidable source of bioactive compounds. Some of these may be considered as biological response modifiers; these include compounds with a specific biological function: antibiotics (e.g. plectasin), immune system stimulator (e,g, lentinan), antitumor agents (e.g. krestin, PSK) and hypolipidemic agents (e.g. lovastatin) inter alia. In this study, we focused on the Chinese medicinal mushroom "yun zhi", Trametes versicolor, traditionally used for (cit.) "replenish essence and qi (vital energy)". Previous studies indicated the potential activity of extracts from culture filtrate of asexual mycelia of T. versicolor in controlling the growth and secondary metabolism (e.g. mycotoxins) of plant pathogenic fungi. The quest of active principles produced by T. versicolor, allowed us characterising an exo-polysaccharide released in its culture filtrate and naming it Tramesan. Herein we evaluate the biological activity of Tramesan in different organisms: plants, mammals and plant pathogenic fungi. We suggest that the bioactivity of Tramesan relies mostly on its ability to act as pro antioxidant molecule regardless the biological system on which it was applied.

MeSH terms

  • Carbohydrate Conformation
  • Chromatography, Gel
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Polysaccharides / chemistry*
  • Polysaccharides / pharmacology*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
  • Trametes / chemistry*

Substances

  • Polysaccharides

Grants and funding

This study was partly funded by external contributions provided by Fondazione Benefica Kathleen Foreman Casali, Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, award number 9837 05/05/2009. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.