High Value Fermentation Products, Volume 1

Chapter 13Trehalose: An Anonymity Turns Into Necessity

Manali Datta^* and Dignya Desai

Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Rajasthan, Jaipur, (India)

*Corresponding author: [e-mail]

Abstract

Trehalose, a non-toxic disaccharide of glucose, also known as the “sugar of life,” is a ubiquitous molecule that occurs in all higher and lower life-forms except in mammals. In cryptobionts, it has been found to play a major role in dessication alleviation. This and other unique properties have enabled this ideal compound to be utilized in robust and versatile formulations in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In this chapter, we discuss the pathways and production parameters at laboratory and industrial scale. Both the enzymatic and microbe mediated production of trehalose has been studied in the design of the production process.

Keywords: Trehala manna, kosmotrope, recombinnt TreS, anhydrobiosis, trehalose, sweetener

13.1 Introduction

A rare non-reducing disaccharide composed of glucose linked together in a α-1,1-glycosidic linkage was first discovered in rye ergot in 1832. Later, in 1858, a similar compound was isolated from mushrooms and was named mycose. Simultaneously in the Middle East, a novel sugar present in “trehala-manna” was identified as “trehalique glucose”.

Trehalose, as it now commonly named, is found to be conserved in prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), lower eukaryotes, plants, and invertebrates, but is notably non-existent ...