Extraction and Characterization of Beta-glucan Methyl Esters Derived From UV-mutated Marine Yeast and their Applications in Cosmetics

Beta-glucan is a natural polysaccharide, abundantly present in the cell walls of several fungi, majorly in mushrooms, yeasts and many bacterial species. It can be used in the cosmetics industry as it has good anti-aging, wound healing and antioxidant properties. Marine yeasts were isolated from the backwater samples derived from Andaman-Nicobar Islands, India and screened for beta-glucan production. Among 38 yeast isolates, 5 isolates could produce beta-glucan and they were further chosen for UV mutagenesis at different time intervals for strain improvement. Mutated marine yeast isolate DAMB1 was found to be producing the highest amount of beta-glucan (1.67 gm/100 ml). Further, potential isolates were characterized microscopically and checked for their antioxidant activity and anti-bacterial activity against bacterial pathogens. The beta-glucan compounds exhibited good antioxidant activity as well as good antimicrobial activity against all the pathogens and highest against Staphylococcus aureus (23 ± 0.7 mm). The yeast-derived compound was structurally characterized using GCMS analysis and represented the presence of Ethylthiophosphonamide Acid, O-methyl Ester, and 1,2,4-Trithiolane which are highly pure fatty acid methyl esters. The extracted beta-glucan compound from potential yeast isolate was used to formulate beta-glucan almond scrub consisting of sweet almond oil and almond powder. The beta-glucan almond scrub showed no side effects or infection on the skin after a period of usage (10 weeks) rather it smoothened out the rough skin to an extent. Finally, the yeast was further characterized and identified as Rhodotorula sp. DAMB1 (Acc. No. MK968443) through 18s rRNA sequencing analysis.