Production of pullulan from raw potato starch hydrolysates by a new strain of Auerobasidium pullulans

In the present study, hydrolysis of potato starch with marine cold-adapted α-amylase and pullulan production from the hydrolysates by a new strain of Auerobasidium pullulans isolated from sea mud were conducted. The hydrolysis conditions were optimized as follows: reaction time 2 h, pH 6.5, temperature 20 °C, and α-amylase amount 12 U/g. Under these optimum hydrolysis conditions, the DE value of the potato starch hydrolysates reached to 49.56. The potato starch hydrolysates consist of glucose, maltose, isomaltose, maltotriose, and trace of other maltooligosaccharides with degree of polymerization ranged 4-7. The maximum production of pullulan at 96 h from the hydrolysate of potato starch was 36.17 g/L, which was higher than those obtained from glucose (22.07 g/L, p < 0.05) and sucrose (31.42 g/L, p < 0.05). Analysis of the high performance liquid chromatography of the hydrolysates of the pullulan product with pullulanase indicated that the main composition is maltotriose, thus confirming the pullulan structure of this pullulan product.