Ethapolan-an amphiphylic microbial exopolysaccharide

Publisher Summary The production of microbial exopolysaccharides (EPS) belongs to the most active R&D lines of biotechnology. The attractiveness of microbial polysaccharides for the food technologist arises from (1) the ability to tailor hydrocolloids with specific properties, in particular through the control of producer cultivation processes, (2) the unique physico-chemical properties of some microbial EPS, and (3) the economic efficiency of microbial EPS production due to their exocellular nature, low substrate prices, and high process productivity. Although the number of EPS-producing microorganisms runs into the hundreds, only a small number of microbial EPS are produced on a commercial scale. New products, to be competitive, should possess novel or improved properties in comparison to polysaccharides, already present on the market. A bacterial strain, Acenitobacter sp., that produces the high-viscous polysaccharide ethapolan (or simusan) has been selected by the Institute of Microbiology and Virology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, ethanol being used as a substrate.