I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol.

45 (4) 341–354 (2007) 341

ISSN 1330-9862 review

(FTB-1846)

Gellan Gum: Fermentative Production, Downstream

Processing and Applications

Ishwar B. Bajaj, Shrikant A. Survase, Parag S. Saudagar and Rekha S. Singhal*

Food Engineering and Technology Department, Institute of Chemical Technology, University of Mumbai,
Matunga, Mumbai 400 019, India
Received: January 8, 2007
Accepted: May 24, 2007

Summary
The microbial exopolysaccharides are water-soluble polymers secreted by microorgan-
isms during fermentation. The biopolymer gellan gum is a relatively recent addition to the
family of microbial polysaccharides that is gaining much importance in food, pharmaceu-
tical and chemical industries due to its novel properties. It is commercially produced by C.
P. Kelco in Japan and the USA. Further research and development in biopolymer technol-
ogy is expected to expand its use. This article presents a critical review of the available in-
formation on the gellan gum synthesized by Sphingomonas paucimobilis with special em-
phasis on its fermentative production and downstream processing. Rheological behaviour
of fermentation broth during fermentative production of gellan gum and problems associ-
ated with mass transfer have been addressed. Information on the biosynthetic pathway of
gellan gum, enzymes and precursors involved in gellan gum production and application
of metabolic engineering for enhancement of yield of gellan gum has been specified. Char-
acteristics of gellan gum with respect to its structure, physicochemical properties, rheology
of its solutions and gel formation behaviour are discussed. An attempt has also been made
to review the current and potential applications of gellan gum in food, pharmaceutical and
other industries.

Key words: gellan gum, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, fermentation

Introduction branched, and are connected by glycosidic linkages. Some

microbial polysaccharides are commercially accepted,
Microbial exopolysaccharides have found a wide while others are at various stages of development. Cur-
range of applications in the food, pharmaceutical and rently a small number of biopolymers are produced
other industries due to their unique structure and physi- commercially on a large scale (2). Among the biopoly-
cal properties. Some of these applications include their mers which are either currently commercial products or
use as emulsifiers, stabilizers, binders, gelling agents, which have been the subject of extensive studies are
coagulants, lubricants, film formers, thickening and sus- xanthan from Xanthomonas campestris, gellan and a range
pending agents (1). These biopolymers are rapidly emerg- of structurally related polysaccharides from the strain of
ing as industrially important, and are gradually becom- Sphingomonas paucimobilis, bacterial alginates secreted by
ing economically competitive with natural gums produced Pseudomonas sp., Azotobacter vinelandii and Azotobacter chro-
from marine algae and other plants. coccum. Small amounts of bacterial cellulose from Aceto-
Microbial polysaccharides are water-soluble poly- bacter xylinium, hyaluronic acid from Streptococcus equii
mers and may be ionic or non-ionic. The repeating units and succinoglycan from Rhizobium have also found ap-
of these exopolysaccharides are regular, branched or un- plication (3).

*Corresponding author; Phone: ++91 22 24 145 616; Fax: ++91 22 24 145 614; E-mail: rekha@udct.org
342 I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007)

Gellan gum is one of the industrially useful exopo- The US FDA approved gellan gum for use as a food ad-
lysaccharides due to its various functional properties. It ditive in 1992 (8).
is a sphingan group of heteropolysaccharides secreted by Specifications for gellan gum were prepared at the
members of the bacterial genus Sphingomonas (4). It is 46th Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
currently produced by C. P. Kelco in Japan and the USA. in 1996 (9) and published in FNP 52 Add 4 in 1996. These
It is marketed with four different trade names: Kelcogel, are summarized in Table 1.
Gelrite, Phytagel and Gel-Gro. Kelcogel is widely used
in food industry as a thickener and gelling agent, where-
as Gelrite, Phytagel and Gel-Gro are used as solidifying Strains Producing Gellan Gum
agent, a substitute for agar in media for microbial growth
and plant tissue culture. Sphingomonas is a group of Gram-negative, rod-
-shaped, chemoheterotrophic, strictly aerobic bacteria
containing glycosphingolipids (GSLs) in their cell enve-
History lopes, and they typically produce yellow-pigmented col-
onies (10).
Gellan gum is the generic name for extracellular po- Some Sphingomonas species are not motile and not
lysaccharide produced by bacterium Pseudomonas elodea. capable of fermentative metabolism (strictly aerobic), but
Kaneko and Kang (5) discovered the polymer in the lab- they all contain a series of unusual components, that is,
oratory of the Kelco Division of Merck and Co., Califor- 18 or 21 carbon straight chain saturated or monosatu-
nia, USA in 1978. It had previously been referred to by rated dihydrosphingosines, or cyclopropane-containing
the code names S-60 or PS-60. The gellan gum-produc- dihydrosphingosines in ceramide glycolipid. The glyco-
ing microorganism was isolated from the Elodea plant lipid contains an amide-2-hydroxyfatty acid, which is an
tissue. Further studies revealed that the bacterium was a indicator of novel lipid composition (11).
new strain of the species Pseudomonas, and hence termed The bacterium used for the industrial production of
as Pseudomonas elodea (6). In 1994, it was discovered that gellan gum is Sphingomonas paucimobilis ATCC 31461 (12).
gellan-producing bacterium was Sphingomonas paucimo- Some researchers have isolated new strains producing gel-
bilis, and classified in the a-4 subclass of the Proteobacte- lan gum, but their use for commercial production has
ria (7). Successful toxicity trials were completed and gellan not been reported. Different strains producing gellan gum
gum received approval for use in food in Japan in 1988. are enlisted in Table 2 (12–16).

Table 1. Specifications for gellan gum (9)

Property Value
Definition Gellan gum is high molecular mass polysaccharide gum produced by a pure culture fermentation of
carbohydrates by Pseudomonas elodea, purified by recovery with isopropyl alcohol, dried, and milled.
The high molecular mass polysaccharide is principally composed of tetracyclic repeating unit of one
rhamnose, one glucuronic acid, and two glucose units and is substituted with acyl group as the
O-glycosidically-linked esters. The glucuronic acid is converted to potassium, sodium, calcium and
magnesium salt. It usually contains small amount of nitrogen-containing compounds resulting from
fermentation procedures
Molecular mass Approximately 500 000
Description Off-white powder
Functional uses Thickening agent, gelling agent, stabilizer, etc.
Solubility Soluble in water, forming viscous solution; insoluble in ethanol
Loss during drying Not more than 15 % (105 °C, 2.5 h)
Lead Not more than 2 mg/kg
Nitrogen Not more than 3 %
Gel test with calcium ion Add 1.0 g of sample to 99 mL of water, and stir for about 2 h. Draw a small amount of this solution
into a wide bore pipette and transfer to a 10 % solution of calcium chloride. A tough worm-like gel
will be formed immediately
Gel test with sodium ion To the 1 % solution of the sample, add 0.5 g of sodium chloride, heat to 80 °C by stirring and hold at
80 °C for 1 min. Allow solution to cool to room temperature. A firm gel will form
Isopropyl alcohol Not more than 750 mg/kg
Microbiological criteria
1. Total plate count Not more than 10 000 colonies per gram
2. E. coli Negative by test
3. Salmonella Negative by test
4. Yeasts and moulds Not more than 400 colonies per gram
I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007) 343

Table 2. Organisms producing gellan gum cose has to enter the cell before it is degraded. Either of
the following steps is used for glucose uptake:
Gellan gum yield
Strain Reference
g/L glucoseout ® glucosein ® gluconate ®
Sphingomonas paucimobilis ® gluconate-6-phosphate
12,13
ATCC 31461 35.70
or
Sphingomonas paucimobilis
8.73 14
E2 (DSM 6314) glucoseout ® gluconate-6-phosphatein ®
Sphingomonas paucimobilis
7.33 15 ® gluconate-6-phosphate
NK2000
Sphingomonas paucimobilis Mutant strain lacking G6PD (glucose-6-phosphate
6.60 16 dehydrogenase) showed no difference in rates of glucose
GS1
utilization, gellan production or CO2 production sug-
gesting that this enzyme is not essential for glucose
metabolism in Sphingomonas (19,20). This indicates that
Composition of Different Types of Gellan Gum either the main route of glucose utilization involves glu-
cose dehydrogenase or gluconate kinase, or the absence
The repeating unit of gellan polysaccharide is com- of G6PD induces a compensatory increase in these en-
posed of b-D-glucose (D-Glc), L-rhamnose (L-Rha), and zymes. As yet, however, there is no clear indication of
D-glucuronic acid (D-GlcA). The composition is approxi- which mechanism occurs (21).
mately: glucose 60 %, rhamnose 20 % and glucuronic Martins and Sá-Correia (19) proposed a possible
acid 20 %. In addition, considerable amount of non-po- pathway for the synthesis of repeating tetrasaccharide
lysaccharide material is found in gellan gum (cell pro- unit of gellan gum. They assumed that gellan synthesis
tein and ash) that can be removed by filtration or cen- requires activated precursors before the repeating unit is
trifugation (17,18). An example of chemical composition assembled, similar to other exopolysaccharides synthe-
of different type of gellan gum is illustrated in Table 3. sized in the cell wall of microorganisms. These gellan

Table 3. Composition of different types of gellan gum (12)

Neutral sugars w(uronic acid) w(acetyl group) w(protein) w(ash)

Gellan gum
Glc/Rha=6/4 % % % %
Native 69.0 11 3 10 7.0
Deacetylated 62.0 13 0 17 8.0
Deacetylated
66.5 22 0 2 9.5
and clarified

Biosynthetic Pathway of Gellan Gum precursors were detected by enzyme assays, and were
found to be nucleotide diphosphate sugars, viz. UDP-
Many researchers have investigated the pathway for
-glucose, TDP-rhamnose and UDP-glucuronic acid. The
the synthesis of repeating tetrasaccharide units of gellan
proposed biosynthetic pathway is shown in Fig. 2 (14).
gum by Sphingomonas paucimobilis (19,20). The route of
gellan synthesis, role of enzymes involved and some pro- Glucose-6-phosphate seems to occupy a key posi-
cess conditions supporting optimum production of gellan tion from which two routes commence, one leading to
gum have been described. uridine-5-diphosphate glucose (UDPG) and the other
leading to thymine-5-diphosphate glucose (TDPG). In
The route of gellan synthesis turn, UDPG induces D-glucose and D-glucuronic acid
synthesis and TDPG leads to the synthesis of rhamnose.
Vartak et al. (20) studied gellan gum biosynthesis in The combination of these three compounds presumably
two strains of Sphingomonas paucimobilis, the wild type results in the synthesis of gellan (22). However, the reac-
and a polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) deficient mutant. En- tions leading to binding of these three monomers have
zyme analysis suggested that in both strains glucose uti- not been clearly elucidated.
lization was initiated by the action of glucokinase and
glucose dehydrogenase. No exogenous gluconate utili-
zation was observed. Specific activities of gellan synthetic enzymes
Sphingomonas paucimobilis catabolizes glucose via the Conditions that favour gellan gum formation might
Embden-Meyerhof pathway (glycolysis), or the pentose be expected to increase the levels of the enzyme respon-
phosphate pathway. The Embden-Meyerhof pathway sible for the formation of precursors. Phosphoglucose
apparently does not have a role in glucose degradation, isomerase (PGI) and phosphoglucose mutase (PGM)
because no phosphofructokinase activity, a key enzyme possess the highest activities in cell-free extracts (in vi-
in glycolysis, has been detected (20). Fig. 1 illustrates the tro) as they play multiple roles in the cell metabolism.
proposed scheme for glucose catabolism in Sphingomo- The enzymes UDPG phosphorylase (UGP) and TDPG
nas paucimobilis. According to the proposed pathway glu- phosphorylase (TGP) appeared to have values of speci-
344 I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007)

Glucose (out)
Bacterial cell wall

Gellan gum Glucose (in) Glc-DH

Gln-K
Glucose-6-phosphate
Pgm Glucose-6-phosphate
Pgi G6PD
Glucose-1-phosphate Pentose
Fructose-6-phosphate 6-Phosphogluconate phosphate
pathway
6-Pg-dehydrase 6-Pg-DH
Ribose-5-phosphate
Embden-Meyerhof
pathway
KDPG CO2

KDPG aldolase

Pyruvate

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate Pyruvate decarboxylase

Dehydrogenase complex
G6P-DH CO2
Glyceraldehyde-1,3-diphosphate Acetyl CoA
IC-DH
Glycerate-3-phosphate TCA
CO2

Glycerate-2-phosphate a-Kg

CO2 a-Kg-DH
Gellan gum
Fig. 1. Proposed pathway for glucose catabolism in S. paucimobilis (19)
a-Kg, a-ketoglutamate; Glc-DH, glucose dehydrogenase; Glc-K, glucose kinase; Gln-K, gluconate kinase; IC-DH, isocitrate dehy-
drogenase; G6PD glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, TCA, tricarboxylic acid cycle; KDPG, 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate;
Pg, phosphogluconate; Pgm, phosphoglucomutase; G3P-DH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; Pgi, phosphoglucoiso-
merase

UGP UGD carboxylic acid cycle, has very high specific activity in
UDPG UDPGA vitro (20). This might represent an unfavourable reaction
PGI PGM for industrial purposes, because glucose is not channel-
F6P G6P G1P Gellan led towards gellan gum production. Apart from the en-
zymes mentioned, there must be other enzymes that in-
DPG TDPR
fluence gellan synthesis after the formation of gellan
TGP TRS
precursors.
Fig. 2. Postulated pathway leading to the nucleotide-sugar pre-
cursors presumed to be involved in biosynthesis of gellan gum
(19) Genetic engineering of the gellan pathway
F6P, fructose-6-phosphate; G6P, glucose-6-phosphate; G1P, glu-
cose-1-phosphate; UDPG, uridine-5-diphosphate-D-glucose; TDPG,
The most exciting prospects for gellan modification
thimidine-5-diphosphate-D-glucose; UDPGA, uridine-5-diphos- and increasing production yield are found in genetic en-
phate-D-glucuronic acid; PGI, phosphoglucose isomerase; TDPR, gineering. Some attempts have been made to increase
thimidine-5-diphosphate-L-rhamnose; PGM, phosphoglucose the relatively low conversion efficiency of gellan from
mutase; UGP, UDPG phosphorylase; TGP, TDPG phosphory- glucose in S. paucimobilis ATCC 31461. By site-specific
lase; TRS, TDPR synthetase mutagenesis, the G6PD gene encoding glucose-6-phos-
phate dehydrogenase was inactivated, envisaging diver-
sion of the carbon flow toward gellan synthesis, appar-
fic activities lower than PGI and PGM. TDPR synthetase ently without the expected results (20).
(TRS) and UGD are the least active and the most ther- Identification of a few genes and elucidation of cru-
mosensitive enzymes above 30 °C. They are essential for cial steps of the gellan biosynthesis pathway indicated
synthesis of rhamnose (TRS) and glucuronic acid (UGD). some possibilities of exerting control over gellan pro-
The activity of these enzymes presumably limits gellan duction at any of the three levels of its biosynthesis: (i)
synthesis, especially at temperatures higher than 30 °C at the level of synthesis of sugar-activated precursors,
(22). Additionally, it has been found that isocitrate iso- (ii) at the level of the repeat unit assembly and of gellan,
merase, which is involved in CO2 production through the (iii) at polymerization and export. By modifying expres-
I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007) 345

sion of any of the individual, or of a group of these the 20 variables tested, molasses, tryptone, casamino acid,
genes the conversion efficiency and gellan gum yield disodium hydrogen orthophosphate and manganese chlo-
can be increased. ride showed significant effect on gellan production. Mo-
In spite of recent advances in the elucidation of the lasses 112.5 g/L, tryptone 1 g/L, casamino acid 1 g/L,
gellan biosynthetic pathway, a better knowledge of the disodium hydrogen orthophosphate 1 g/L and manga-
poorly understood steps and of the regulation and bot- nese chloride 0.947 g/L produced maximum (13.81 g/L)
tlenecks of the pathway is crucial for the eventual suc- gellan gum.
cess of the metabolic engineering of gellan production.
Effect of nitrogen source on gellan gum production
Following carbon source, nitrogen is the most im-
Fermentative Production of Gellan Gum portant medium component for gellan gum production.
In general, the type and concentration of nitrogen source
The growth media suitable for the production of diffe- in the medium influenced the flow of carbon to either
rent exopolysaccharides by microorganisms vary widely, biomass or product formation (14). Abundant secretion
and this probably reflects the differing role of each exo- of the exopolysaccharide is usually most noticeable when
polysaccharide in nature. It is instructive to consider the bacteria are supplied with abundant carbon source and
effect on polymer biosynthesis rates, yields and compo- minimal nitrogen (4).
sition of varying growth media during fermentative pro-
duction of these exopolysaccharides (23). The choice of the nitrogen source has strong effect
on gellan broth characteristics. Dreveton et al. (28) re-
ported that organic nitrogen accelerates cell growth and
Factors affecting gellan gum production
biosynthesis of gellan gum. Hence broth with organic
Media components nitrogen is more viscous as compared to the broth with-
out organic nitrogen, and therefore requires proper im-
The media used for production of gellan gum are
peller system to provide enough oxygen transfer during
simple media containing carbon source, nitrogen source
gellan gum production.
and inorganic salts. The exact quantity of carbon utiliza-
tion depends in part upon the other ingredients of the Organic nitrogen sources like corn steep liquor (12)
medium (12). A copious secretion of exopolysaccharide and inorganic nitrogen sources like ammonium nitrate
is usually most noticeable when the bacteria are sup- (26) and potassium nitrate (14) have been tried for gellan
plied with an abundant carbon source and minimal ni- gum production. Hyuck et al. (29) compared bactopep-
trogen (4). Sometimes complex medium ingredients sup- tone and soybean pomace (an agroindustrial by-prod-
plying vitamins can also enhance the cell growth and uct) for gellan gum production from Sphingomonas pauci-
production (21,24). Effects of various medium compo- mobilis NK 2000 and achieved maximum yield of 3.27
nents on gellan gum production are as follows. and 7.33 g/L, respectively. Nampoothiri et al. (16) com-
pared various organic and inorganic nitrogen sources
Effect of carbon source on gellan gum production for gellan gum production from Sphingomonas paucimo-
Carbon source is the most important component of bilis ATCC 31461, and reported maximum gellan gum
the media used for the production of exopolysaccha- production of 32.1 g/L with tryptone. Bajaj et al. (13)
rides because it directly affects the production yields, studied the effect of different nitrogen sources on gellan
compositions, structures, and properties of bacterial exo- gum production. Among the various nitrogen sources
polysaccharide (25). According to Kang et al. (12), carbo- used, yeast extract supported the maximum gellan gum
hydrates such as glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose and production.
mannitol can be used either alone or in combination as
carbon source. The amount of carbon source usually Effect of the addition of precursors
varies between 2–4 % by mass. Kang et al. (12) and Addition of precursor molecules is of considerable
Lobas et al. (26) used glucose as carbon source for pro- importance in the polysaccharide synthesis in terms of
duction of gellan gum with approximate yields of 8–10 metabolic driving force. In case of polysaccharides, high-
g/L. Ashtaputre and Shah (14) studied sucrose as car- er intracellular levels of nucleotide phosphate sugars
bon source for gellan gum production using Sphingomo- under nitrogen-limited conditions reportedly enhance
nas paucimobilis GS1 and obtained yield of 6.6 g/L of metabolite flux of exopolysaccharide synthesis (15).
gellan gum. Fialho et al. (25) compared gellan gum pro- Many researchers have described the pathway for
duction by using glucose, lactose and sweet cheese whey the synthesis of the repeating tetrasaccharide unit of
as carbon source and yields obtained were 14.5, 10.2 and gellan gum by Sphingomonas paucimobilis (19,20). It is as-
7.9 g/L, respectively. Nampoothiri et al. (16) and Bajaj et sumed that gellan synthesis requires activated precur-
al. (13) compared soluble starch, glucose, lactose, malt- sors before the repeating unit is assembled. These gellan
ose and sucrose as carbon source for gellan gum pro- precursors were detected by enzyme assays, and they
duction and found soluble starch to be the best carbon were found to be nucleotide phosphate sugars (21). The
source for gellan gum production with yields of 24–28 repeating unit of gellan gum is a tetrasaccharide com-
g/L. posed of the glucose, rhamnose and glucuronic acid.
Banik et al. (27) developed a molasses-based medi- The sugar nucleotides providing the activated precur-
um for the production of gellan by Sphingomonas pau- sors for synthesis of this tetrasaccharide are assumed to
cimobilis ATCC 31461. They applied Plackett–Burman be respectively UDP-glucose, TDP-rhamnose and UDP-
design criterion to study the effect of various nutrient -glucuronic acid. Bajaj et al. (13) studied the effect of the
supplements on gellan production using molasses. Among addition of guanosine-5’-monophospate (GMP), uridine-
346 I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007)

-5’-diphospate (UDP), adenosine-5’-diphospate (ADP), cy- Growth of Sphingomonas paucimobilis increased up to 5.4
tidine-5’-monophospate (CMP), and adenosine-5’-triphos- g dry cells/L with an agitation rate of up to 700 rpm.
pate (ATP) on gellan gum production, and observed that Specific growth rate was high at 700 rpm (0.38 h–1) and
ADP at 1 mM to give maximum gellan gum (32.15 g/L) was comparatively low at 1000 rpm (0.29 h–1). This was
production. contrary to the report given by Giavasis et al. (31), in
Media used for production of gellan gum usually which the authors reported higher cell growth at 1000
contain complex medium ingredients that supply vita- rpm. Gellan production increased up to 500 rpm (14
mins and amino acids to enhance cell growth and gellan g/L) due to increased mass and oxygen transfer and de-
production (21). Amino acids have been used by some creased at 700 rpm (13 g/L) because of stimulation of
researchers as nitrogen source or as stimulator for im- cell growth.
proving gellan gum production (14,16). Studies carried Dissolved oxygen and oxygen transfer capacity
out by Bajaj et al. (13) demonstrated that tryptophan at
0.05 % concentration gave maximum (39.5 g/L) yield of Rho et al. (33) suggested O2 to be vital for gellan
gellan gum. synthesis, as depletion in oxygen concentration decreased
the growth, and hence gellan gum production. The best
pH gas dispersion conditions of the turbine systems were
pH plays a very important role in production of gel- accomplished by high gellan production (28). In contrast
lan by Sphingomonas paucimobilis, as it significantly influ- to the above, Rau et al. (34) observed an improvement of
ences both cell growth and product formation. In gen- exopolysaccharide production when cultures of Scleroti-
eral, optimal pH value for bacterial exopolysaccharide um glucanicum were grown under limited oxygen sup-
production is somewhat higher than that of the fungal ply. Clearly the high oxygenation rate that promotes op-
glucan production (21). The pH value usually recom- timal gellan synthesis is in distinct contrast with the low
mended for gellan production ranges from 6.5 to 7 (12, or limiting oxygen levels which contribute to high con-
13,28,30). More acidic or more alkaline environment re- centrations of fungal glucans. One explanation for these
duces the cell growth, and consequently gellan produc- observations may be that in the case of glucans, exopo-
tion (13,16). lysaccharide synthesis follows the growth phase; where-
as with gellan, biopolymer is produced at a higher rate
Agitation rate during the growth phase.
Dreveton et al. (28) studied the effect of agitation Banik and Santhiagu (32) studied the effect of dis-
rate on gellan gum production. Fermentations were car- solved oxygen tension (DOT) on cell growth and gellan
ried out in a 14-liter vessel with an initial working vol- gum production, and found that DOT levels above 20 %
ume of 10 L. Culture temperature was maintained at 30 have no effect on cell growth; gellan gum yield, how-
°C and pH of the broth was regulated at pH=6.5. ever, increased to 23 g/L with increase in DOT level to
An agitation of 250 rpm using a helical ribbon im- 100 %. DOT level acts as a driving force for increasing
peller is adequate for the mixing of gellan gum broth. oxygen uptake rate by the cells, which resulted in high-
Lower levels of agitation were insufficient for homoge- er gellan production. Higher DOT levels reportedly im-
nous conditions and the broth exhibited gelling charac- prove the viscosity and molecular mass of the polymer
teristics. On the other hand, the same authors observed with change in acetate and glycerate content of the poly-
high stirring rates (600 to 800 rpm) with Rushton tur- mer (32).
bines to lead to cavitations in impeller zone suggesting Temperature
that high shear thinning properties of the broth result in
formation of stagnant zone. Consequently, the medium Most of the fermentations involving gellan gum pro-
became heterogeneous with increasing agitation rate. duction are carried out at 30 °C (15,29). However, it is
This is a major drawback as it causes limitations in heat reported that gellan yield reaches its peak at 20 °C, re-
and mass transfer, and substrate exhaustion could occur mains quite high at 25 °C, and significantly decreases
in stagnant zones (28). above 30 °C (35).
Giavasis et al. (31) investigated the effects of agita-
Influence of fermentation hydrodynamics on the
tion and aeration on the synthesis and molecular mass
of the gellan gum in batch fermentor cultures of the bac- physicochemical properties of gellan gum
terium Sphingomonas paucimobilis. High aeration rates and Dreveton et al. (36) revealed that the degree of este-
vigorous agitation enhanced the growth of S. paucimobilis. rification, the average molecular mass and the intrinsic
Although gellan formation occurred mainly parallel with viscosity of the gellan polymer depend on the fermentor
cell growth, the increase in cells able to synthesize gel- hydrodynamics. Comparing several helical ribbon im-
lan did not always lead to high gellan production. For pellers with Rushton turbine impellers, they found that
example, at very high agitation rates (1000 rpm) growth degree of esterification with acetate and glycerate was
was stimulated at the expense of biopolymer synthesis. higher for products produced by process using HR250
Maximal gellan gum concentration can be obtained at and HR125 impellers, both of which are characterized
the agitation of 500 rpm at 1 and 2 vvm aeration (12.3– by oxygen limitation. Hence, it was assumed that ace-
12.4 g/L gellan). At low agitation rates (250 rpm), an in- tate and glycerate substitutes are related to oxygen limi-
crease in aeration from 1 to 2 vvm enhances gellan syn- tation or the physiological state of the cells.
thesis. Using a range of impellers and dissolved oxygen re-
Banik and Santhiagu (32) studied the effect of agita- gimes, Dreveton et al. (36) noted that gellan molecular
tion rate on cell growth and gellan gum production. mass is related to the degree of homogeneity in the fer-
I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007) 347

mentor. Under the most homogeneous conditions, the Isolation and Purification of Gellan Gum
average molecular mass of gellan gum doubled com-
pared to heterogeneous conditions. They also noted that Optimization of fermentation parameters alone is
the least viscous broth had the lowest molecular mass not enough to ensure high yield of gellan gum. The next
biopolymer, and intrinsic viscosity of gellan gum broth crucial step after the completion of successful fermenta-
seemed to be a function of molecular mass of gellan tion is the recovery and purification of gellan.
gum. However, oxygen limitation did not seem to influ-
ence the molecular mass of gellan gum. Recovery of gellan gum
Recently, Wang et al. (37) have proposed kinetic mo- In the recovery process described by Kang et al. (12),
del for understanding, controlling, and optimizing the the culture broth is first heated to 90–95 °C for 10–15
fermentation process for gellan gum production. Fermen- min. The heating step not only kills the cells, which re-
tation was carried out by Sphingomonas paucimobilis ATCC main with the capsular polysaccharide, but also gently
31461. Logistic and Luedeking-Piret models were con- reduces the viscosity of the broth and this facilitates mix-
firmed to provide a good description of gellan gum fer- ing during precipitation. The polysaccharide is separa-
mentation. Analysis of kinetics in batch fermentation pro- ted from the cells by filtration or centrifugation. Cell-free
cess demonstrated that gellan gum production is largely supernatant was added to ice-cold isopropyl alcohol and
growth associated. Based on the model prediction, fed- the mixture was kept at 4 °C for 12 h for complete pre-
-batch fermentation for gellan gum production was car- cipitation of gellan gum. The precipitate formed was then
ried out. Higher gellan gum production and higher con- recovered by centrifuging. After gellan recovery, the pro-
version efficiency were obtained at the same total substrate duct was dried at 55 °C for 1 h. Perhaps lyophilization
concentration. of gellan could offer another alternative for formulating
dry gellan powder (29). Clarified gellan gum was ob-
tained by filtration of the hot fermentation broth with
Rheology of the Fermentation Broth cartilage filters (0.2 µ), followed by precipitation with iso-
propyl alcohol (12).
The rheology of the fermentation fluid during gel-
lan gum production exhibits strongly pseudoplastic be- Purification of gellan gum
haviour, even at 0.1 % (by mass per volume). The initial The gellan gum obtained after alcohol precipitation
broth viscosity is that of Newtonian fluid with a viscos- was washed repeatedly with acetone and ether, dis-
ity close to that of water, but the broth rapidly becomes solved in deionised water and dialyzed against deio-
non-Newtonian with strong shear thinning properties. nised water by using dialysis tubing with molecular
This pseudoplastic behaviour during the exopolysaccha- mass cut-off of 12 000–14 000. After dialysis for 2–3 days
ride accumulation phase is also common in the produc- with four or five changes of deionised water, the solu-
tion of other microbial polymers and described by power tion was lyophilized to formulate dry gellan powder
law model (28): (29). Chromatographic methods like gel filtration chro-
h = t/g = kg
n–1
/1/ matography (GFC) can also be used for the purification
of gellan gum, although any such report has not yet
where h stands for broth viscosity, t is the shear stress been available.
and g is the shear rate. The model has two independent
parameters: the shear thinning index n (equal to 1 for Deproteinization of gellan gum
Newtonian fluid and decreasing to 0 with increasing de- Deproteinization is a technical bottleneck in the pu-
gree of shear thinning) and consistency index k. Dreve- rification of viscous water-soluble polysaccharides. Wang
ton et al. (28) found that the value of the index n drop- et al. (38) investigated the effectiveness of several meth-
ped quickly from an initial value of around 1 to 0.30 ods of deproteinization including Sevag method, alka-
within 9 h of culture and remained constant thereafter. line protease, papain and neutral protease for deproteini-
The consistency index, k, increased steadily with poly- zation of crude gellan gum. The results revealed that using
mer concentration. The power law is, however, valid Sevag method deproteinization efficiency of 87.9 % was
only if the stress t exceeds the critical value tc (which is achieved, but recovery efficiency of gellan gum (28.6 %)
extremely difficult to determine). The yield stress, t0, is was unsatisfactory, making it unsuitable in industrial
another important factor that describes the shear stress applications. Deproteinization by alkaline protease was
at the very beginning of the pseudoplastic behaviour, most suitable with high polysaccharide recovery (89.3 %)
corresponding to the first non-zero shear rate. The square and high deproteinization efficiency (86.4 %).
root of this parameter was found to be linear function of
the gellan concentration.
Types of Gellan Gum
Dreveton et al. (28) reported that viscosity of fermen-
tation broth during production of gellan gum depends Native gellan gum
on media constituents. Growth without organic nitrogen
source resulted in a broth of low consistency and intense Native gellan gum consists of a backbone of repeat-
shear thinning behaviour. Fermentation parameters were ing unit of b-1,3-D-glucose, b-1,4-D-glucuronic acid, b-1,3-
also reported to influence the viscosity of fermentation -D-glucose, a-1,4-L-rhamnose, and two acyl groups, ace-
broth. Viscosity of fermentation broth appears higher at tate and glycerate, bound to glucose residue adjacent to
higher agitation rate. glucuronic acid (18).
348 I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007)

Deacetylated gellan gum by filtration (0.7 m). Clarified gellan gum is suitable for
some confectionary products where clarity is a crucial
The acetyl groups in native gellan gum are removed
quality issue. It is also used as gelling agent for micro-
by alkaline treatment to produce deacetylated gellan gum.
bial growth media. Fig. 3 illustrates the repeating unit of
Acyl substituents affect the rheology, and deacetylation
chemical structure of acetylated and deacetylated gellan
of native gellan results in a change from soft, elastic
gum.
thermoreversible gels to harder, more brittle gels with
higher thermal stability (39).
Steps involved in deacetylation of native gellan gum
Physicochemical Properties
are as follows (16,39). The fermentation broth was im-
mersed in boiling water bath for 15 min, cooled and pH
Gelling characteristics and texture properties
increased to 10.0 using 1.0 M NaOH. The broth was
then kept at 80 °C for 10 min and the pH was brought
of gellan gum
down to 7.0 using 1.0 M HCl. Cell mass from the broth Gelation of gellan solutions occurs abruptly upon
was separated by centrifugation at 8000 rpm for 30 min heating and cooling of gellan gum solutions in the pres-
at 4 °C. The supernatant was then added into three vol- ence of cations. Such sol-gel transitions are considered
umes of ice-cold alcohol to precipitate the deacetylated as phase transition. The gelation of gellan gum is a func-
gellan. The precipitated gellan gum was then dried to tion of polymer concentration, temperature, and pre-
constant mass in hot air oven at 80 °C for 12 h. sence of monovalent and divalent cations in solution
There are two types of deacetylated gellan gum dif- (42). At low temperature gellan forms an ordered helix
ferentiated on the basis of degree of deacetylation: high of double strands, while at high temperature a single-
acyl gellan gum (partially deacetylated) and low acyl gel- -stranded polysaccharide occurs, which significantly re-
lan gum (highly deacetylated) (40). duces the viscosity of the solution. The transition tem-
perature is approximately 35 °C, but can range from
30–50 °C. Below transition temperature, a stiff structure
Clarified gellan gum
is obtained (setting point), and results in gel formation.
Clarified gellan gum results from filtration of hot, The mechanism of gelation involves the formation of
deacetylated gellan gum for enhanced removal of cell double helical junction zones followed by aggregation of
protein residue. Clarification of gellan gum is of value the double helical segments to form a three-dimensional
especially when the gum is used as agar substitute (41). network by complexation with cations and hydrogen
Dreveton et al. (36) described the method for clarifica- bonding with water (43). Addition of monovalent or di-
tion of gellan gum. Initially, 0.1 % solutions of gellan valent cations during cooling markedly increases the
gum were prepared by mechanical stirring at 40 °C for number of salt bridges at junction zone, thereby improv-
16 h in deionised water. Then the solutions were heated ing the gelling potential of gellan gum. Various studies
at 95 °C for 30 min. These heated solutions were then have been carried out to study the effect of different fac-
centrifuged at 13 000 × g for 30 min. The supernatants tors on the gel strength. Some of the important factors
obtained were heated to 95 °C and then totally clarified affecting gel strength are discussed bellow.

Fig. 3. Repeating units of chemical structure of native (a) and deacetylated (b) gellan gum (18)
I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007) 349

Acetyl content crose on gel strength was found to be dependent on cat-

Acetyl content is the most important factor affecting ion concentration. At low cation concentrations, sucrose
the gel strength. Gellan gum with different acetyl con- strengthened the gels; but at high cation concentrations,
tent gives gels with different properties. Native gellan sucrose weakened them.
gum provides soft, elastic, thermoreversible gels, and is
very weak because of bulky acetyl and glyceryl groups
that prevent close association between gellan polymer
Temperature stability and flexibility of the melting
chains in bulk-helix formation, and hinder compact point
packing of the cross-linked double helix. Deacetylated Gellan gum is stable at higher temperatures and
gellan gum forms firm, brittle and thermoreversible gel maintains its strength at 90 °C, whereas xanthan gum
because of the absence of acetyl and glyceryl groups looses 74 % of its original strength after heating up to 90
(44). °C (14). According to Sanderson and Clark (40), the
Type and concentration of ions melting temperature can be below or above 100 °C, de-
pending on the conditions of gel formation. The most
Ions have an impact on gel strength and brittleness.
important factor responsible for the flexibility of the
Gellan does not form gel in deionised water, but the ad-
melting point is concentration of cations in the gels be-
dition of salts of calcium, potassium, sodium, and mag-
cause monovalent and divalent cations markedly in-
nesium causes an increase in these two properties (40).
crease the number of junction zones in gels and make
Notably, divalent cations are more effective in achieving
them more resistant to temperature. Modification of the
this; even in gellan gels of very low concentration (0.2
melting point can successfully replace other conven-
%, by mass per volume), a high strength was achieved
tional thickeners/stabilizers, while used in much lower
with a maximum at about 0.004 % (by mass per volume)
concentration (21).
calcium and 0.005 % (by mass per volume) magnesium.
Similar gel strength can be achieved with 0.16 % sodium
or 0.12 % potassium (by mass per volume) (45). Gellan Effect of the presence of other hydrocolloids on
gels with KCl or NaCl had lower gel strength, even at textural properties of gellan gum
high salt concentration (1 %, by mass per volume) (39).
A concentration of 0.1–0.2 % gellan is suitable for many Various studies to find out the changes in the tex-
food systems. It is important economically that strong tural properties of gellan gum when mixed with other
gels can be obtained at low concentration of gellan, with food hydrocolloids have been carried out.
the incorporation of trace amount of salt.
Sodium alginate
Gel pH
Sodium alginate dissolved in calcium chloride solu-
Sanderson and Clark (46) showed the gel strength
tion at 90 °C shows weak gel properties similar to those
to be enhanced within pH range of 3.5 to 8, which corre-
of ordered xanthan. The solutions show a sharp increase
sponds to the natural pH range of most foods. Change
in rigidity on cooling, and convert to permanent gels on
in pH does not alter the setting point of the gel, but af-
storage at low temperature. The gels attain maximum
fects melting temperature in some cases. For example,
hardness at about 40 % calcium conversion (for alginate
gels prepared with very low levels of monovalent ions
with a polyguluronate content of 58 %), and their elas-
melt at around 70 °C at neutral pH, but at pH=3.5 the
ticity can be readily controlled by adjustment of Ca2+
melting temperature is slightly increased. This trend is
concentration around this optimum value. Papageorgiou
not seen for divalent ions.
et al. (50) observed that incorporation of moderate con-
Presence of hydrophilic ingredients centrations of gellan (0.1–0.3 %, by mass per volume, in
Addition of hydrophilic ingredients like sucrose (at combination with 2 %, by mass per volume, alginate
about 10 %, by mass per volume) tends to decrease the and 5 mM trisodium citrate, sequestrant) increased the
ion concentration required for optimal gellan gel strength strength of the gels, but did not significantly change
(47). Kasapis et al. (48) used transmission electron mi- their elasticity, indicating that the gellan acts as strong
croscopy to examine the changing nature of a polysac- ’filler’ in an alginate matrix.
charide network with increasing levels of sugar. Mix-
tures of deacylated gellan (<1 %) with low (0–20 %) and Gelatin
high (80–85 %) levels of sugar were prepared and stud- Lau et al. (51) carried out texture profile analysis on
ied. Micrographs of the high sugar/gellan gels pro- mixed gellan-gelatin gels to assess the effect of the ratio
duced clear evidence of reduced crosslinking in the po- of the two components and calcium ion concentration.
lysaccharide network, which exhibits a transition from Hardness, brittleness, cohesiveness and springiness were
rubber to glass-like consistency upon cooling. measured. The results suggested that there was a weak
Tang et al. (49) studied the effects of fructose and su- positive interaction between gellan and gelatin when no
crose on the gelling temperature, clarity, and texture pro- calcium was added; at higher concentrations, gellan
perties of gellan gels cross-linked with calcium or sodi- formed a continuous network and gelatin the discontin-
um ions. They reported the gelling temperatures of gellan uous phase. Hardness was dependent on the concentra-
solutions to generally increase on the addition of sucrose, tion of gellan gum in the mixture, whereas brittleness,
whereas addition of fructose up to 35 % (by mass per springiness and cohesiveness were very sensitive to low
volume) had no effect. Incorporation of fructose and su- levels of calcium (0–10 mM), but less sensitive to higher
crose markedly increased the gel clarity. Effect of su- calcium concentrations and gellan/gelatin ratio.
350 I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007)

Carrageenan and xanthan constant suggest that aggregation phenomena occurred.

Rodríguez-Hernández and Tecante (52) studied tex- Dentini et al. (55) studied physicochemical characteris-
ture properties of gellan-carrageenan and gellan-xan- tics of deesterified gellan gum in 0.025 M tetramethyl
than mixtures in order to determine the contribution of ammonium chloride (TMAC). In this case, no aggrega-
both polysaccharides to the viscoelastic behaviour of the tion phenomena were detected. On the other hand, Dre-
mixture. Admixtures having a constant total concentra- veton et al. (36) showed significant aggregation to occur
tion of 0.5 % (by mass) with different proportions were in case of native gellan gum in TMAC. The results of
prepared in the presence of 0.01 mol/kg CaCl2. It was viscometric analysis were correlated by using Mark-
observed that gel strength of 0.5 % gellan alone was the -Houwink relationship:
highest, and gel strength of the two-component gels de- a
creased as the proportion of gellan was reduced. Mixed h = K ·Mr /4/
gels having a gellan concentration equal to or lower
where h is intrinsic viscosity, Mr is average molecular
than 50 % mass of the total concentration were less stiff
mass, and K is the Mark-Houwink relationship constant.
and brittle, hence were more elastic.
Dreveton et al. (36) determined the Mark-Houwink rela-
tionship for gellan gum as:
Effect of chelatants on textural properties of
–3 0.91
gellan gum h = 7.48 ·10 Mr /5/
Camelin et al. (53) studied the effect of various con-
centrations of sequestrants (sodium citrate, sodium meta-
phosphate, and EDTA) on gellan gel setting temperature Toxicological Aspects
and rheological properties. Addition of EDTA between 0
and 0.8 % (by mass per volume) progressively decreased
In 1991, toxicological evaluation of gellan gum was
the setting temperature. Citrate and metaphosphate de-
done at the thirty-seventh meeting of the Joint FAO/
creased this parameter when added up to 0.4 or 0.6 %,
WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in
depending on gellan gum concentration, eventually re-
Geneva (56). The comments of the committee were as
sulting in the absence of gel formation at room tempera-
follows:
ture for the 1.5 % gellan solution containing 0.4 % ci-
trate. This effect was accompanied by a significant decrease Gellan gum was shown to be poorly absorbed and
of gel strength, and might be attributed to the binding did not cause any deaths in rats, which received a single
of divalent cations required for chain association during large dose (5 g per kg of body mass) in the diet or by
gelatinisation by chelatants. gavage. Short-term (90-day) exposure of rats to gellan
gum at levels up to 60 g/kg in the diet did not cause
any adverse effects. In prepubertal monkeys, toxicity of
Rheological Analyses and Molecular gellan gum was studied for 28 days at the highest dose
Characteristics level of 3 g per kg of body mass per day. Signs of any
overt toxicity were not observed during this study. In re-
Dreveton et al. (36) studied viscosity profile of gel- production and teratogenicity studies in rats in which
lan gum with Couette rheometer Low Shear 30. The ana- gellan gum was given up to 50 g/kg in the diet, there
lysis was performed at 25 °C, low concentration and at was no evidence of interference with the reproductive
lowest shear rate. The intrinsic viscosity (h) was calcu- process, and no embryotoxic or developmental effects
lated by using the following formula: were observed. Gellan gum was also shown to be non-
-genotoxic in a battery of standard short-term tests.
h = lim [(hsolution - hsolvent ) hsolvent × c ] /2/
c® 0 Study in dogs, which were treated at dose levels up
to 60 g/kg in the diet for 1 year, showed that there were
where c is the concentration of the polymer. no adverse effects that could be attributed to chronic ex-
Intrinsic viscosity is the characteristic property of an posure to gellan gum. In long-term carcinogenicity stud-
isolated polymer molecule in a given solvent, and repre- ies, gellan gum did not induce any adverse effects in
sents measurement of its hydrodynamic volume. Viscos- mice or rats at the highest dose levels of 30 and 50 g/kg
ity results as a function of polymer concentration are ex- in the diet, respectively.
pressed conveniently by means of Huggins equation Results from a limited study on tolerance to gellan
(54): gum in humans indicated that oral doses of up to 200
hsolution mg per kg of body mass administered over a 23-day pe-
hsolvent - 1 = h × c + k ’×h × c
2 2
/3/ riod did not elicit any adverse reactions, although faecal
bulking was observed in most subjects.
where k’ is the Huggins constant and is representative of Toxicological studies show that gellan gum is rela-
the interaction of the polymer with its solvent. Experi- tively nontoxic. An acute oral toxicity test on rat found
mentally, k’ is close to 0.3-0.4 in a good solvent and is that the LD50 of gellan is higher than 5000 mg/kg, while
greater than or near to 1 in case of occurrence of aggre- a similar inhalation toxicity test caused no death in a
gation phenomenon in the solution. group of 10 animals, and an eye irritation test indicated
The intrinsic viscosity of native gellan gum was ap- gellan to be safe for eye contact. Such evidence led to
proximately 8000 mL/g in 0.1 M KCl. The Huggins con- gellan gum being given FDA approval for use in foods
stant varied between 0.7-1.8. These values of Huggins on November 25, 1992 (8).
I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007) 351

Applications of Gellan Gum Pie fillings and puddings

Gellan gum can be used as a structuring agent to
Applications in foods partly replace starches in pie fillings and puddings. Al-
ternatively, gellan in mixture with modified starches can
Table 4 illustrates the potential application of gellan
be used as a stabilizer and water-binding agent (40), pre-
gum in various food products. Gellan gum is not only
venting the 'blunting effect' starches can have on food
applicable in foods, which require a highly gelled struc-
flavour.
ture, but may also be suitable for uses in systems to pro-
vide body and mouth-feel rather than gelatin. In some
products, it may be desirable to use gellan gum in com- Fabricated foods
bination with other hydrocolloids like locust been gum, Fabricated fruit pieces or meat chunks, including
xanthan gum, guar gum and modified starches to obtain pet food, fall into this category. Many gums have been
optimal product texture and stability. used to provide a structured form after heating and
cooling (58). Since the gellan gum provides matrix which
Confectionery does not melt during pasteurization, the pieces retain
Gellan gum can be utilized in confectionery and their characteristic shape under the processing condi-
bakery products (53). The major function of gellan gum tions. For this, a level of 0.7 % gellan is required in con-
in confectionery products is to provide structure and trast to 1 % needed with carrageenan/locust been gum
texture to reduce the set time of starch jellies. Starch jel- (40).
lies normally take 24 to 48 h to set, while the introduc-
tion of gellan reduces setting time to 10–12 h. In addi- Dairy products
tion, gellan can prevent moisture fluctuations in sugary Negatively charged hydrocolloids like gellan or ca-
foods, icings and toppings, and the required gellan gum rageenan interact with the positively charged milk pro-
concentration in these products is only one fifth of the teins, leading them to precipitate. The effect is undesir-
commonly used agar (40). able when homogenous solutions/gels of milk proteins
and gellan are required, and can be averted if hydrocol-
Water based gels loids are pretreated to neutralize their negative charge
Gellan gum provides dessert gels with mouth-feel (59). However, in other dairy products like cheese, the
characteristics similar to those of gelatin. The use of interactions of gellan with milk proteins, especially ca-
high clarity gellan gum is preferred in this application sein and whey lactoglobulins, increase the total yield of
and results in a gel with clarity of water. This is highly cheese and reduce the loss of solids (mainly proteins) in
desirable in meat and vegetable aspic. Moreover, the in- whey. Also, water retention during cheese making was
crease of melting temperature due to addition of gellan enhanced after the addition of gellan to milk. The used
gum helps such gels to remain soft and juicy without levels of gellan gum are again very low (250–750 ppm).
melting and loosing their visual appearance. For these Ice cream is another dairy product that can be improved
types of applications, a level of around 0.3 % gellan by the addition of gellan, where it acts as an effective
gum was found to be ideal (40). bulking agent (40).

Jams and jellies Pet foods

Gellan can successfully replace pectin in jams and is A wide variety of pet foods are commercially avail-
effective at lower concentrations (about 0.4 % of gellan able in dry, semisolid or canned form. Gelling polysac-
as compared to about 0.6 % of high methoxypectins and charides are generally used for solidification of certain
0.8 % of low methoxypectins). In these products, syne- canned products. The purpose of gelling polysacchari-
resis is minimized, while jams have good organoleptic des in these cases is to provide continuous matrix, which
characteristics and good spreadability (57). Low solid and retains the shape during processing. Gellan gum’s gel
reduced calorie jams with excellent sheen can be pre- forming properties and efficacy at low concentration le-
pared with only 0.15 % of clarified gellan (40). vels make it an ideal material for this application (40).

Table 4. Applications of gellan gum in food (39)

Food area Example of products Conventional agents used

Water-based gels Dessert gels, aspic Gelatin, alginate, carrageenan
Confectionery Pectin jellies, fillings, marshmallow Pectin, gelatin, starches, agar, xanthan,
locust been gum
Jams and marmalades Diet jams, imitation jams, bakery fillings Pectin, carrageenan, algin
Pie fillings and puddings Desserts, pie fillings, canned/precooked Alginate, carrageenan, starches
puddings
Fabricated foods Restructured meat, fruits and vegetables Alginate, carrageenan, locust been gum
Pet foods Canned/gelled pet foods Alginate, carrageenan, locust been gum
Dairy products Yogurt, milk shakes, gelled milk, ice cream Alginate, carrageenan, gelatin
352 I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007)

Reduction of oil uptake during frying a clear, colourless, high-strength gel, which aids in the
The potential use of gellan gum for reducing oil up- detection of microbial contamination. It is an economical
take has been reported (60). Oil uptake during frying is alternative to agar as a gelling agent. Arregui et al. (69)
surface phenomenon. An increased hydrophobic charac- compared Phytagel™ with Difco bacto agar for in vitro
ter of the surface would result in increased oil uptake tuberization of six potato cultivars. Chemical analyses of
during frying. The ability of gellan gum to reduce oil both gelling agents revealed a higher mineral content
uptake can be attributed to its hydrophilic character. and organic impurities in Difco bacto agar than in Phy-
Bajaj and Singhal (61) studied the use of gellan gum for tagel™, which is therefore recommended for microtuber
reducing oil uptake in a traditional Indian deep-fat fried production.
product called sev, which is based on chickpea flour.
Addition of 0.25 % (by mass) gellan gum to chickpea Gel electrophoresis in biological research
flour decreased oil content of the sev by 24.6 %. Effect of Gels of gellan can be used as a solid matrix for sepa-
the addition of gellan gum on texture of dough and sev rating DNA fragments on the basis of size by electro-
was also studied. Addition of gellan gum significantly phoresis (70). Gel electrophoresis is a widely practiced
altered the texture of dough, but not the texture of sev. and key procedure in molecular biology. Gellan-based
electrophoresis gels must include a second polymer such
Applications in pharmaceutical industry as hydroxymethylcellulose or polyethylene oxide to re-
The potential role of gellan in controlled drug re- duce electroosmosis. In this application gellan can re-
lease and adsorption in stomach has also been examined. place highly refined agarose, which is very costly and
Wataru et al. (62) studied sustained delivery of paraceta- used at about 1 %. By contrast, gellan costs much less
mol by gellan and sodium alginate formulations, and re- than agarose and is required only at 0.125 %.
ported that the bioavailability of paracetamol from the
gels formed in situ in the stomach of rabbits following Cell immobilization
oral administration of the liquid formulations prepared Camelin et al. (53) found gellan gels to provide a
from gellan gum and sodium alginate was similar to mechanically stable matrix for the immobilization of Bi-
that of a commercially available suspension containing fidobacterium longum (gels were stable for over 150 h of
an identical dose of paracetamol. Use of gellan gum for fermentation of a whey medium). In addition, biocata-
controlled bioavailability of ophthalmic formulations has lyst activity (lactic acid production) was very high corre-
also been proposed. Sanzgiri et al. (63) have shown that sponding to the values reported by Bifidobacterium lon-
gellan-based ophthalmic solutions have longer residence gum entrapped in carrageenan/locust bean gum.
time in tear fluid than saline solution. Sidda et al. (64) Wenrong and Griffiths (71) evaluated the ability of
formulated in situ gellan gum-based gels with ciproflo- the gellan–xanthan beads to protect bifidobacteria under
xacin hydrochloride as a drug and studied their diffu- different conditions including peptone water, pH=4.0,
sion characteristics. The gel formulation containing both pasteurized yogurt, and simulated gastric juice and they
ciprofloxacin and gellan gum showed a prolonged drug found that immobilization of bifidobacteria in beads of
release pattern. Gellan gum was evaluated as a binding gellan–xanthan gum mixtures increased their tolerance
agent in lactose-based tablets containing metronidazole of high acid environments. This approach may be useful
or paracetamol. The binding properties of the gum were for use of gellan gum in delivery of probiotic cultures to
compared with acacia and gelatin. Granules were pre- the gastrointestinal tract of humans.
pared by the conventional wet granulation method. The
Uses of gellan gum in microencapsulation techniques
results indicated that though the hardness of tablets con-
(72) have also been proposed. Gellan gum can be used
taining gellan gum was lower than that containing gela-
for the encapsulation of cultures for wastewater treat-
tin or acacia, gellan gum can be employed in the formu-
ment. Moslemy et al. (73) demonstrated that encapsula-
lation of normal release of metronidazole and paracetamol
tion of activated sludge in gellan gum microbeads en-
with moderate hardness, low friability and good disinte-
hanced the biological activity of microbial populations
gration and dissolution properties (65).
in the removal of gasoline hydrocarbons.

Solid culture media for growth of microorganisms

and plants Conclusion
A clarified grade of gellan (GelriteTM)is used as an Gellan gum has gained importance in the food or
agar substitute to solidify nutrient media for growth of pharmaceutical industries, gel electrophoresis, immobili-
microorganisms (41). The product withstands several zation of cells and enzymes, and bioremediation. Its po-
autoclave cycles and is also resistant to a variety of en- tential use as a replacement for gelatin and agar makes
zymes (66). It has a texture that resembles that of agar. it the most important polysaccharide. Comparatively low
As against 15 g/L of agar, the required concentration of productivity and requirement for costly downstream pro-
GelriteTM is only 6 g/L of the medium (67). There is also cessing steps impair the economic viability of microbial
evidence that gellan gum is an ideal medium for plant production of gellan. Use of cheaper raw materials like
tissue culture (68). GelriteTM media showed superior agricultural waste or dairy waste can help reduce the
shoot proliferation, rooting and embryogenesis when cost of fermentative production of gellan gum. Certain
compared with agar medium (21). metabolic precursors that increase the conversion of car-
Phytagel™ is an agar substitute, which is manufac- bon sources to gellan gum can also improve the yield of
tured by Sigma, USA, by using gellan gum. It produces gellan gum. The most exciting prospects for gellan modi-
I.B. BAJAJ et al.: Gellan Gum – Review, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (4) 341–354 (2007) 353

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