White biotechnology: new source of ingredients

In the pharmaceutical sector it is used for the production of antibiotics such as famous Penicillin, and it is used for energy in bioethanol production. Fermentation is also used as a source of innovation for the production of cosmetic biomolecules, such as dihydroxyacetone (DHA), hyaluronic acid (HA) and coenzyme Q10. This biotechnological process presents many innovation opportunities thanks to the huge biodiversity of the microorganism kingdom. Soliance is a French company which has developed cosmetic active ingredients since 1994. It explores nature’s richness to offer innovative ingredients for the cosmetic industry, based on three “pillars”: Soliance White (white biotechnology/fermentation), Soliance Green (plant extraction) and Soliance Blue (blue biotechnology using microalgae). The company masters development and optimisation of fermentation processes using renewable raw materials, from the laboratory to the industrial scale (Fig. 1). Soliance benefits from the research and development know-how and the industrial equipment of its parent company, ARD. With its pool of knowledge, Soliance is one of the leading manufacturers for DHA and hyaluronic acid and produces many value-adding cosmetic biomolecules.

Preventing dehydration

A specific microorganism living in the sunflower root area through a symbiosis system has been described by the Pasteur Institute. This Rhizobium bacteria is a gram-negative bacteria playing a vital role for the plant in periods of drought. It enables plants to stay alive under the roughest conditions by preventing their roots from becoming dehydrated. In periods of sufficient rainfall, water abounds in the soil and available in adequate quantity to fulfil the requirement of the plant. In summer or during drought periods, water is no more available to the roots. In this extreme condition, the bacterium synthesises a polymer, forming a moisturising film around the roots, which draws up the water present in a small amount in the soil and concentrates it to keep a sufficient storage for the plant (Fig. 2). The polymer also plays an important role in structuring the soil which, deprived of water, has a tendency to lose its consistency. The remarkable high water binding capacity of this polymer leads Soliance to isolate the secreting bacteria in order to produce the polysaccharide at an industrial level. The production is performed through a biotechnological process, a specific area of knowledge of Soliance. The microorganism used for the process is guaranteed to be a non-GMO strain. This polymer contains 7 sugars (Fig. 3): 1 glucuronic acid (A), 3 carbohydrate residues (B, C and D), 3 galactose residues (E, F and G), pyruvate grouping, 1 to 3 – non-localised acetyl groupings. The molecular weight of the native molecule is between 300,000 and 5.106 g/mol. The polymer is then hydrolysed through a patented industrial process. At the end of the process, its molecular weight is between 20,000 and 60,000 g/mol, corresponding to 15 to 46 repetitive units (Fig. 4). After years of research, Soliance discovered the incomparable synergy of this natural polysaccharide and the acacia gum. The combination of these two ingredients demonstrated great performance as a flash tensor by tightening the skin within 15 minutes.