The current status of biotechnological production and the application of a novel antioxidant ergothioneine

Abstract

Ergothioneine is a sulfur-containing histidine derivative, that possessesexcellent antioxidant activity and has been used in the food and cosmetics industries. It plays a significant role in anti-aging and the prevention of various diseases. This review will briefly introduce the functions and applications of ergothioneine, elaborate the biosynthetic pathways of ergothioneine and describe several strategies to increase the production of ergothioneine. Then the efficient extraction and detection methods of ergothioneine will be presented. Finally, several proposals are put forward to increase the yield of ergothioneine, and the development prospects of ergothioneine will be discussed.

Keywords:

• Ergothioneine
• antioxidant
• mushroom
• biosynthesis
• fermentation
• metabolic engineering

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [No. 2019YFA0905700], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 21878151], the Jiangsu Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Bio-Manufacture [XTE1829], and General Program on Natural Science Research Project of Higher Education of Jiangsu [18KJB530007], the Scientific Research Project for Post-graduate in Jiangsu Province [No. SJCX20_0311].