Novel Ganoderma triterpenoid saponins from the biotransformation-guided purification of a commercial Ganoderma extract.

Ganoderma sp. contains high amounts of diverse triterpenoids; however, few triterpenoid saponins could be isolated from the medicinal fungus. To produce novel Ganoderma triterpenoid saponins, biotransformation-guided purification (BGP) process was applied to a commercial Ganoderma extract. The commercial Ganoderma extract was partially separated into three fractions by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography, and the separated fractions were then directly biotransformed by a Bacillus glycosyltransferase (BsUGT489). One of the biotransformed products could be further purified and identified as a novel saponin: ganoderic acid C2 (GAC2)-3-O-β-glucoside by nucleic magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectral analyses. Based on the structure of the saponin, the predicted precursor should be the GAC2, which was confirmed to be biotransformed into four saponins, GAC2-3-O-β-glucoside, GAC2-3,15-O-β-diglucoside and two unknown GAC2 monoglucosides, revealed by NMR and mass spectral analyses. GAC2-3-O-β-glucoside and GAC2-3,15-O-β-diglucoside possessed 17-fold and 200-fold higher aqueous solubility than that of GAC2, respectively. In addition, GAC2-3-O-β-glucoside retained the most anti-α-glucosidase activity of GAC2 and was comparable with that of the anti-diabetes drug (acarbose). The present study showed that the BGP process is an efficient strategy to survey novel and bioactive molecules from crude extracts of natural products.