Microbial Extracellular Polymeric Substances: Production, Isolation and Applications

Abstract

s Microbial polysaccharides have multiple functional and can be divided into intracellular polysaccharides, structural polysaccharides and extracellular polysaccharides or exopolysaccharides (EPS). EPS formed by both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, has a great deal of research interest. Now a day's newer approaches are carried out to replace the traditionally used plant gums by their bacterial counterparts. The bacterial EPS represent a wide variety of chemical structures, but have not yet get appreciable significance. Chemically, EPS are rich in high molecular weight polysaccharides (10-30 kDa) and have heteropolymeric composition. They have new-fangled applications due to their unique properties they possess. Owing to this, EPS have found multifarious applications in the food, pharmaceutical and other industries. It also possesses potential application on waste water treatment.