Gellan gum biopolymer- A review

Gellan gum is an anionic polysaccharide produced by the bacterium Sphingomonas paucimobilis. Kaneko and Kang discovered the biopolymer in the laboratory of the Kelco Division of Merck and Co., California, USA. It is composed of tetrasaccharide repeating units of two residues of D-glucose, one of D-glucuronic and one of L-rhamnose. The functional properties of gellan gum make it one of the industrially useful exopolysaccharides. Sphingomonas paucimobilis ATCC 31461 is the bacterium used for the industrial production of gellan gum. The gellan gum has potential applications in food, pharmaceutical, biomedical and other industries. The gellan gum finds uses in the bioremediation field. Bioaugmentation of contaminated aquifers, biodegradation of hydrocarbons and the removal of dyes from wastewater are a few of its applications. This review provides an overview of the characteristics, production of gellan gum and recent bioremediation applications.