Reshaping the natural polysaccharide industry landscape through industrial smart manufacturing, setting a new benchmark for sustainable manufacturing.

Abstract: By overcoming the "agricultural dependency" associated with tremella polysaccharides and introducing an innovative "one-step synchronous preparation of dual-component polysaccharides" process, this approach achieves a comprehensive polysaccharide recovery rate of 65% and a product purity of ≥95%, thereby establishing itself as a new growth driver for the production of core polysaccharide raw materials, following the success of hyaluronic acid.

From September 4 to 5, the 2026 China Synthetic Biology Manufacturing Expo was held in Suzhou. At the event, Kang Chuanli, Deputy General Manager of R&D at Focusfreda (a subsidiary of Freda), delivered a keynote speech, systematically sharing Freda's key technological breakthroughs in the field of green smart manufacturing for microbial fermentation of tremella polysaccharides. The unveiling of this achievement marks another strategic leap in technology for Freda – following its successful industrialization of hyaluronic acid – as it transitions from "agricultural dependence" to "industrial smart manufacturing" in the realm of another strategic polysaccharide raw material.

Resolving the contradiction between "biological instability" and "engineering amplification" to reconfigure the production methodology for silver ear mushroom polysaccharides

Silver ear mushroom polysaccharides, owing to their exceptional moisturizing, immunomodulatory, and antioxidant activities, hold significant potential for application in the pharmaceutical, functional food, and premium skincare industries. However, traditional cultivation and extraction methods for fruiting bodies have long been constrained by structural challenges such as lengthy production cycles, considerable variability in raw material quality, and low resource utilization efficiency. During his speech, Kang Chuanli emphasized: "Freda's goal is not merely to replace traditional production methods, but to establish a new system that surpasses conventional plant-based production standards."

Leveraging decades of expertise in carbohydrate chemistry accumulated by the Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Sugar and Sugar Complex Drug Research, Freda's R&D team pioneered the use of silver ear mushroom spore fermentation as an alternative approach, thereby overcoming the industrial challenges associated with the unstable morphological behavior and lengthy cycle duration of mycelial fermentation, as well as the low yield and high impurity levels inherent in traditional spore fermentation methods. Through systematic strain selection, combined mutagenesis, and high-throughput directed screening, the team identified a high-performance industrial strain from among more than 1,000 mutant strains.

Building on this foundation, the team further addressed multiple process challenges—including medium formulation optimization, systematic regulation of fermentation conditions, and enhancement of gas–liquid mass transfer—resulting in a stepwise increase in the fermentation yield of crude polysaccharides, representing a significant improvement over the initial level. More importantly, Freda successfully developed a "one-step simultaneous preparation of dual-component polysaccharides" process: under mild, environmentally friendly conditions, a solid–liquid separation strategy was employed to isolate high-molecular-weight extracellular polysaccharides (MW 500,000–800,000 Da) from the supernatant and low-molecular-weight intracellular polysaccharides (MW 10,000–50,000 Da) from the bacterial cells; the overall polysaccharide recovery rate reached 65%, with total sugar content ≥ 95% and protein content ≤ 0.1%, and the product purity achieved a high standard.

Building upon our expertise in hyaluronic acid industrialization, we seamlessly integrate the entire value chain—from laboratory research to manufacturing in the workshop.

Freda has dedicated over three decades to the hyaluronic acid sector, building a comprehensive engineering capability spanning from strain construction and fermentation scale-up to purification applications. It is precisely this systematic advantage that has enabled the successful scaling-up of the tremella polysaccharide fermentation technology—from shake-flask experiments and pilot-scale production to full-scale trial production at the tonnage level. Kang Chuanli emphasized, "This is not merely a breakthrough in a single technology, but rather a concentrated demonstration of Freda's integrated capabilities within the interdisciplinary field of' Synthetic Biology + Glycotherapeutics'."

The achievements shared in this presentation represent a key component of the project awarded the Second Prize of the 2025 Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, which was jointly received by Focusfreda as the lead completing entity in collaboration with institutions including Jiangnan University. Through a systematic upgrade of green manufacturing processes, this technology has achieved a significant reduction in the product's entire life-cycle carbon footprint; its products have been adopted by more than 200 enterprises across over 70 countries and regions worldwide.

Notably, Freda has not limited itself to products within its current molecular weight range. The team has screened over 300 bacterial strains from decaying tremella samples, soil, and industrial wastewater that can utilize tremella polysaccharides as their sole carbon source; among these, more than 10 strains were identified as possessing significant tremella polysaccharide-degrading capabilities, some of which have already been patented. This strategic approach aims to overcome the molecular weight limitations associated with tremella polysaccharides, eliminate technical barriers to developing new application formats—such as tremella oligosaccharides and oligosaccharide-based products—and further expand the range of application scenarios for tremella polysaccharides across the pharmaceutical, functional foods, and premium personal care sectors.

Setting a new benchmark for the polysaccharide industry through green smart manufacturing

Freda has a clear strategic positioning for silver ear mushroom polysaccharides: building upon its success with hyaluronic acid, it aims to establish these polysaccharides as another key growth driver for raw material supply. As the fermentation-based silver ear mushroom polysaccharide technology matures and achieves industrial-scale implementation, Freda is leveraging the power of synthetic biology to redefine the production standards for rare fungal polysaccharides—ushering traditional agricultural products, which have traditionally been dependent on land and climate conditions, into an era of intelligent industrial manufacturing characterized by controllable quality, sustainability, low carbon footprint, and efficient scale-up capabilities.

Kang Chuanli stated: "Good technology should not only serve human health but also respect natural boundaries. Freda has both the capability and the responsibility to extend the power of microbial fermentation to the production of more scarce natural polysaccharides, thereby giving China's biomanufacturing sector greater influence on the global stage."