Progress in Researches of Microbial Polysaccharides

Six topics are covered in this review article: ① separation, purification and composition analysis of microbial polysaccharides; ② the effects of nutrients on polysaccharide biosynthesis; ③ the ways of polysaccharide biosynthesis; ④ genetics in polysaccharide biosynthesis; ⑤ applications of microbial polysaccharides and relative researches where the uses of biogenic polysaccharides as medicines and food additives are introduced concisely and the use and researches for oil industry of xanthan, acidic extracellular polysaccharide Simusan, and extracellular polysaccharide AGBP and the building-up of a cell engineering bacterium capable to produce polysaccharides and surfactants simultaneously are presented in some detail; ⑥ future developments.