Recent trends in the characterization of microbial exopolysaccharides

Abstract

Bacterial polysaccharides that are secreted into the environment are termed as exopolysaccharides (EPSs). Depending on the monosaccharide composition, EPSs can be classified into homo (HoPSs) and heteropolysaccharides (HePSs). HoPSs consist of only one type of monosaccharide, mostly glucose or fructose. In the recent years, EPSs have drawn increasing attention of the researchers worldwide, not only for their thickening, texturizing and viscosifying properties, but also for their health promoting applications. These EPSs constitute an alternative class of biothickeners, which have also been proved to have good emulsifying property, apart from their texture promoting ability in various foods. The biochemical properties of the EPSs depend on the primary structure of the EPSs. Hence it is very important to know the monomeric composition of the EPSs and their gycosidic bonds. HPLC, GC, GC-MS, NMR, Capillary electrophoresis and various bioinformatics tools can be used to determine the chemical characteristics of the EPSs.