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Biodegradation of gallotannins and ellagitannins
Author(s) -
Mingshu Li,
Kai Yao,
Qiang He,
Dongying Jia
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of basic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.58
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1521-4028
pISSN - 0233-111X
DOI - 10.1002/jobm.200510600
Subject(s) - ellagitannin , biodegradation , hydrolyzable tannin , chemistry , tannin , tannase , gallic acid , ellagic acid , microbial biodegradation , food science , polyphenol , organic chemistry , microorganism , bacteria , biology , antioxidant , genetics
Nowadays, many researches have been made on gallotannin biodegradation and have gained great success in further utilization. Some of industrial applications of these findings are in the production of tannase, the biotransformation of tannic acid to gallic acid or pyrogallol and detannification of food and fodder. Although ellagitannins have the typical C–C bound which is more difficult to be degraded than gallotannins, concerted efforts are still in progress to improve ellagitannin degradation and utilization. Currently, more attention is mainly focused on intestinal microflora biodegradation of tannins especially ellagitannins which can contribute to the definition of their bioavailability for both human beings and ruminants. Also there have been endeavours to utilize the tannin‐degrading activity of different fungi for ellagitannin‐rich biomass, which will facilitate application of tannin‐degrading enzymes in strategies for improving industrial and livestock production. Due to the complicated structures of complex tannins and condensed tannins, the biodegradation of them is much more difficult and there are fewer researches on them. Therefore, the researches on the mechanisms of gallotannin and ellagitannin biodegradation can result in the overall understanding to the biodegradation of complex tannins and condensed tannins. Biodegradation of tannins is in an incipient stage and further studies have to be carried out to exploit the potential of various tannins for largescale applications in food, fodder, medicine and tannery effluent treatment. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)