Simultaneous production of both high molecular weight pullulan and oligosaccharides by Aureobasdium melanogenum P16 isolated from a mangrove ecosystem.

After the compositional change of a pullulan production medium, a molecular weight (Mw) of the pullulan produced by Aureobasidium melanogenum P16 was 2.32×106 and a pullulan titer was 44.4g/L while a Mw of the pullulan produced by A. melanogenum P16 grown in the initial medium was only 3.47×105 and a pullulan titer was 65.3g/L. The increased Mw of the pullulan was due to the decreased activities of α-amylase, glucoamylase and pullulanase while the decreased pullulan titer was related to the decreased transcriptional levels of the genes encoding 6-P-glucose kinase, glucosyltransferase, α-phosphoglucose mutase, UDPG-pyrophosphorylase and pullulan synthetase. During the 10-L fermentation, when the yeast strain P16 was grown in the initial medium, the pullulan and oligosaccharide titers were 65.5g/L and 7.8g/L, respectively and the Mw of the produced pullulan was 4.42×105 while when the yeast strain P16 was grown in the compositionally changed medium, the pullulan and oligosaccharide titers were 46.4g/L and 27.8g/L, respectively and the Mw of the produced pullulan was 2.6×106 . Most of the oligosaccharides produced by the yeast strain P16 cultivated in the compositionally changed medium had degree of polymerization of 4 and 5. Therefore, both of the high Mw pullulan and oligosaccharides with high levels were produced by the yeast strain P16.