Production of Levan, A Potential Low Calorie Sweetener From Low Cost Substrates

Abstract

Levan is a biocompatible and bioactive bio-polymer with good rheological and medicinal properties. Due to its high cost, it is beyond reach of commons. The current study deals with levan production using regional low cost substrates as carbon source which will help to reduce its cost. 10 isolates were obtained from a novel source i.e. soil from jaggery preparation area, from which three levan producing isolates were selected and  identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing as Bacillus xiamenensis (JX680066), Bacillus subtilis (KC243314) and Bacillus subtilis (DQ922949). These three isolates produced levan 80.3 g/L, 79.6 g/L and 81.4 g/L respectively. Levan production with molasses was much higher than the levan production using sucrose. Levan obtained from Bacillus subtilis (DQ922949) was purified and further analyzed by NMR and HPLC. Toxicological studies showed it is non- toxic to living cells.

Key words: Bioactive, molasses, jaggery field, Bacillus subtilis (DQ922949), cytotoxicity.