Current Advances on the Structure, Bioactivity, Synthesis, and Metabolic Regulation of Novel Ubiquinone Derivatives in the Edible and Medicinal Mushroom Antrodia cinnamomea.

In recent years, Antrodia cinnamomea has attracted great attention around the world as an extremely precious edible and medicinal mushroom. Ubiquinone derivatives, which are characteristic metabolites of A. cinnamomea, have shown great bioactivities. Some of them have been regarded as promising therapeutic agents and approved into clinical trial by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Although some excellent reviews have been published covering different aspects of A. cinnamomea, this review brings, for the first time, complete information about the structure, bioactivity, chemical synthesis, biosynthesis, and metabolic regulation of ubiquinone derivatives in A. cinnamomea. It not only advances our knowledge on the bioactive metabolites, especially the ubiquinone derivatives, in A. cinnamomea but also provides valuable information for the investigation on other edible and medicinal mushrooms.

Stimulating the biosynthesis of antroquinonol by addition of effectors and soybean oil in submerged fermentation of Antrodia camphorata.

Antrodia camphorata is a precious medicinal mushroom that has attracted increasing attentions. Antroquinonol has been considered as being among the most biologically active components of A. camphorata. However, it was hardly biosynthesized via conventional submerged fermentation. Two approaches were applied to stimulate the biosynthesis of antroquinonol in submerged fermentation. On one hand, different kinds of effectors that may involve in the antroquinonol biosynthesis were investigated. Among the tested effectors, camphorwood leach liquor was the most effective for stimulating the antroquinonol production. On the other hand, because of the hydrophobic characteristics of antroquinonol, soybean oil was added to establish an extractive fermentation system for alleviating the product inhibition and resulting in enhanced productivity. The highest antroquinonol concentration could be achieved at 89.06 ± 0.14 mg/L when 10% (v/v) soybean oil was added at the beginning of the fermentation. This study will be of great significance for the study of A. camphorata and the bioprocess regulation of antroquinonol production.

Integrated strategy of pH-shift and glucose feeding for enhanced production of bioactive Antrodin C in submerged fermentation of Antrodia camphorata.

Antrodin C is one of the most potent bioactive components produced by the medicinal mushroom Antrodia camphorata. However, almost all studies in this field have focused on the biological activity of Antrodin C and relatively rare information has been reported regarding the biosynthetic process of Antrodin C. In this study, the strategies of pH-shift and glucose feeding for enhanced production of Antrodin C in submerged fermentation of A. camphorata were successfully applied in stirred bioreactors. The critical parameters for pH-shift and glucose feeding were systematically investigated. On one hand, the optimal culture pH for cell growth was distinct with Antrodin C biosynthesis and the maximum Antrodin C production was obtained by maintaining the first-stage culture at initial pH 4.5 and adjusted to 6.0 at day 8. On the other hand, it was beneficial for the Antrodin C accumulation with the initial glucose concentration of 40 g/L and feeding glucose to keep the residual sugar above 10 g/L. The maximum Antrodin C production (1,549.06 mg/L) was about 2.1-fold higher than that of control in 15-L stirred bioreactors by taking advantage of the integrated strategy of pH-shift and glucose feeding. These results would be helpful for the design of a highly efficient Antrodin C biosynthesis process.