LAUSR

Lentinus edodes is the second-most popular and cultivated mushroom worldwide due to its nutritional and health-promoting benefit. However, the mushroom production generates vast amounts of spent L. edodes substrate (SLS) that is generally discharged into the environment, posing a great challenge within mushroom by-product valorization. In this work, SLS polysaccharide (SP) was ultrasonically extracted by optimizing the process conditions with response surface methodology. Using gradient ethanol precipitation, SP was separated into SP40, SP60 and SP80, and their monosaccharide composition, structural properties, and antioxidant potential were further characterized and compared. The results showed the total polysaccharide content reached up to 37.05 ± 0.31 mg/g under the optimal conditions including an extraction temperature of 50 °C, a liquid-solid ratio of 30 mL/g and an ultrasonic power of 120 W. SP and its fractional precipitations were heteropolysaccharides sharing a similar monosaccharide composition including L-rhamnose, D-glucuronic acid, D-galacturonic acid, d-glucose and D-xylose, and a typical infrared spectrum for polysaccharide. These fractions also varied in the surface morphology, where SP80 was looser and more porous than SP40 and SP60. Furthermore, SP and SP80 displayed the strongest antioxidant activities in vitro. This study identified a novel and practical strategy to valorize SLS for valuable polysaccharide.