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BIONÆR-Bionæringsprogram

Exploring tree-derived hemicelluloses as a source for prebiotics

Alternative title: Utforsking av trebaserte hemicellulosers potensiale som en kilde til prebiotika

Awarded: NOK 20.2 mill.

The wood and paper industry worldwide and domestically in Norway suffers from low demand and low prices, with several pulping plants recently being closed down. Developing consolidated biorefinery solutions, which generate higher value products from woody biomass are seen as an alternative to pulp and paper and hence are of utmost importance. Hemicellulose in the form of xylan and mannan is a major constituent in trees (ca. 1/3). Interestingly, these glycans resemble structures found in edible plant sources and may serve as a basis for prebiotics. This project has produced several low cost and highly defined prebiotic oligosaccharides from non-edible (high abundance) sources. These has been produced and tailored by advanced enzymatic modifications, and selectively removing various substituents. This project has increased the understanding of prebiotics, by identifying key structural elements that are determinants for the utilization of oligosaccharides by commensal bacteria in both the GI tract of livestock and humans. This analytically challenging project, has utilized state of the art Tools in carbohydrate separation and characterization, novel enzyme technology combined with microbiology and DNA technology. A challenging element in the project was to successfully transfer knowledge acquired by selective oligosaccharide fermentation in vitro to the design of feed experiments identifying the growth of potentially beneficial microbiota as well as other positive nutritional effects. There are also challenges connected to the up-scaling of prebiotic production obtaining sufficient amounts required for pigs feed trials. This project succesfully managed to overcome these challanges and generate a cheap feed ingredient from a non-edible source, which yielded production livestock With increased amounts of beneficial gut bacteria. On a long term basis, we have built the Foundation for future utilization of prebiotics from wood in food.

Prosjektet har vært et viktig første steg for å finne nye måter å bruke treråstoff og har bidratt sterkt til å plassere Ås Campus på kartet innen bioraffinering av trebiomasse, detaljert forståelse om hvordan bakterier nyttiggjør seg av komplekse karbohydrater, og til sist hvordan dette påvirker bakteriesammensetningen i mus og gris. Dette har gitt dyp innsikt og et godt grunnlag for å identifisere ingredienser som kan benyttes som prebiotika i fremtiden. Prosjektet har bidratt til et nært samarbeid med forskningsgrupper i USA (University of Michigan Medical School) og Danmark (DTU). Vi har gjennomført studier som viser at vi kan selektivt stimulere vekst av 'gode' bakterier i dyreforsøk, og i in-vitro forsøk med human tarmflora. Dette kan gi store sammfunnsmessige effekter ved at trebaserte karbohydrater kan brukes i for og bidra til bedre dyrehelse, og i fremtiden også kunne brukes i mat der de erstatter stabilisatorer fra eksotiske planter.

The wood and paper industry worldwide and domestically in Norway suffers from low demand and low prices, with several pulping plants recently closing down. Developing consolidated biorefinery solutions which generate higher value products from woody biomass are seen as an alternative to pulp and paper and hence are of utmost importance. Hemicellulose in the form of xylan and mannan is a major constituent in trees (ca. 1/3). Interestingly, the overall structure of these glycans in woody plants resembles structures found in edible plant sources and may serve as a basis for prebiotics. This project entails the production of several low cost and highly defined prebiotic oligosaccharides from non-edible (high abundance) sources. These will be produced and tailored by advanced enzymatic modifications, selectively removing various substituents. This project will increase the understanding of prebiotics, by identifying key structural elements that are determinants for the utilization of oligosaccharides by commensal bacteria in both the GI tract of livestock and humans. This analytically challenging project, will utilizing state of the art in carbohydrate separation and characterization tools, novel enzyme technology combined with microbiology and DNA technology. A challenging element in the project is to successfully transfer knowledge acquired by selective oligosaccharide fermentation in vitro to the design of feed experiments identifying the growth of potentially beneficial microbiota as well as other positive nutritional effects. There are also challenges connected to the up-scaling of prebiotic production obtaining sufficient amounts required for pigs feed trials. A successful project will possibly generate a cheap feed ingredient from a non-edible source which may yield increased production of healthier livestock. On a long term basis, we may also be able to utilize prebiotics from wood in food.

Publications from Cristin

Funding scheme:

BIONÆR-Bionæringsprogram