β-Glucan is a natural compound contained in cell walls of yeast or fungi, and cereal’s fiber. It is also known to boost the immune system in human. Aureobasidium is a producer of water-soluble β-1,3/1,6-glucan. In this study, natural killer (NK) cell and macrophage activity were tested to investigate the effects of β-1,3/1,6-glucan isolated from A. pullulans on immune activity. Activation of NK cell was increased about 63-39% by the treatment of 10-200 μg/mL β-1,3/1,6-glucan than control. Besides, only 10 μg/mL of β-1,3/1,6-glucan was enough to boost activation of NK cell. Phagocytosis of macrophage was increased to 15~21% by the treatment of 10~200 μg/mL of β-1,3/1,6-glucan than zymosan-treatment. In LP-BM5 proliferating inhibition test, relative mRNA level of LP-BM5 virus was decreased in β-1,3/1,6-glucan-treated cell about 36~74% than control. The decline of LP-BM5 mRNA level appeared to depend on the concentration of β-1,3/1,6-glucan. These results suggest that pure β-1,3/1,6-glucan from A. pullulans might be contributing to enhancement of immune activity through the activation of NK cell and phagocytosis of macrophage. Moreover, treatment of the β-1,3/1,6-glucan could increase the resistance to virus infection such as LP-BM5 through the restraining of the multiplication.

A new lactic acid bacteria with gluten-degrading activity which was isolated from salted sea foods (traditional Korea fermented food), identified as Weissella confusa (99%) by use of API kit and 16S rRNA sequencing, and designated as W. confusa. When the W. confusa cultured for 48 hours at 30℃ in a MRS medium containing 1% gluten, 45% of gluten was founded to be degraded. W. confusa showed 85% of survival rate at pH 3, and 94% tolerance at 0.1% oxgall, which indicates that W. confusa would survive in stomach of human. Experiments on the thermostability was confirmed that it has a stability of 70% in 50℃. W. confusa inhibited the growth of some pathogen, except for S. aureus. Results in this study suggest that using W. confusa for fermentation of grain flour containing gluten would be desirable to prepare the gluten-free foods needed for those who suffer from celia disease and gluten allergy.