Turkey Tail Medicinal Mushroom, Trametes versicolor (Agaricomycetes), Crude Exopolysaccharides with Antioxidative Activity

Abstract

Crude Trametes versicolor exopolysaccharides (cEPS) were used for antioxidative activity testing. Obtained results revealed high ability of cEPS for DPPH free radical scavenging and high chelating ability at the highest tested concentration (20 mg/mL), while the reducing power was significantly lower. However, based on the EC50 values, antioxidative activities of the cEPS decreased in the following order reducing power > DPPH scavenging ability > chelating ability. Due to the high carbohydrate and beta-glucan content it is assumed that they are the main carriers of cEPS antioxidative activities. D-glucose was the main monosaccharide (87.18 +/- 0.27%) while the dominant amino acids were L-lysine (L-glutamic and L-aspartic acid), which are amino acids with taste similar to the monosodium glutamate. In addition, content of sweet tasting amino acids compared with the group of bitter tasting amino acid was 2.1 times higher, indicating favorable composition of cEPS protein fraction for food industry applying.