Effects of oligosaccharides and polysaccharides on the generation of reactive oxygen species in different biological systems.

Use of carbohydrates as elicitors is a novel technique for enhancement of the production of industrially important microbial products. The relation between the levels of ROS (reactive oxygen species) and overproduction of antibiotics in microbial cultures has already been established. In the present study, we aimed to exploit the ROS response to develop a fast technique to assess the potential of oligosaccharides [oligoguluronate, oligomannuronate and MO (mannan oligosaccharides)] and polysaccharides [alginate and LBG (locust-bean gum)] as elicitors for overproduction of secondary metabolites in Streptomyces rimosus and Penicillium chrysogenum.