Gellan Gum Engineering Service

Gellan Gum is a valuable exopolysaccharide widely used as a Hydrogels/Stabilizers in food, cosmetics, and microbiology due to its excellent gelling properties. The current production faces two main hurdles: Extraction from Sphingomonas elodea is complex and the host strain's characteristics can be inconsistent; most critically, it is difficult to control the degree of Acetylation, which dictates gel strength and texture. This lack of control limits its utility in precision applications.

CD Biosynsis offers a two-stage solution to enhance control and yield: Genetic Engineering: Modify the Gellan Gum synthesis gene cluster to control the expression of Acetylation enzymes, enabling precise tuning of physical properties. This ensures custom-tailored product functionality. Simultaneously, we implement Host Switch: Transfer the pathway to a more robust, non-pathogenic industrial host. This improves strain safety, robustness, and scalability, overcoming the limitations of the native Sphingomonas elodea strain.

Pain Points

The industrial production of Gellan Gum faces these challenges:

• Quality Inconsistency: The most important functional difference between low-acyl and high-acyl Gellan is the degree of Acetylation, which is difficult to precisely control via traditional fermentation methods e.g. pH or aeration.
• Host Limitations: The native producer, Sphingomonas elodea, is often slow-growing and can present challenges in large-scale fermentation, particularly regarding biocontainment and process robustness.
• Complex Extraction: The Gellan Gum product is highly viscous and tightly bound to the native Sphingomonas cells, making the downstream purification and recovery complex and costly.
• High Viscosity Challenges: Similar to other gums, the high viscosity of the broth limits oxygen transfer OTR and increases the mixing energy required, raising operational costs.

A successful approach must ensure highly precise control over the polymer's chemical modification and enhance the robustness of the fermentation host.

Solutions

CD Biosynsis utilizes integrated genetic and host engineering to optimize Gellan Gum production:

Precision Acetylation Control

           

We genetically engineer the Gellan Gum gene cluster, specifically manipulating the Acetylation enzyme expression to precisely dial-in the required degree of Acetylation for desired gel strength low-acyl or elasticity high-acyl.

Robust Host Switch

We perform a pathway transfer of the Gellan Gum synthesis genes to a non-pathogenic, faster-growing host e.g. E. coli or B. subtilis, improving safety, reliability, and process scalability.

Precursor Flux Optimization

We engineer the central metabolism of the new host to ensure an enhanced and continuous supply of the nucleotide sugar precursors e.g. UDP-Glucose required for Gellan Gum biosynthesis.

Enhanced Excretion and Purification

We engineer the cell envelope of the host for improved excretion efficiency of the polysaccharide, which simplifies the downstream purification and reduces processing costs.

This approach ensures the production of high-quality, custom-functionalized Gellan Gum with superior process economics.

Advantages

Our Gellan Gum engineering service is dedicated to pursuing the following production goals:

Precisely Tunable Physical Properties Icon

Genetic control over Acetylation allows for precise, reproducible gelling and textural properties for different applications.

Safer and Robust Host Icon

Switching to a non-pathogenic, fast-growing industrial host improves fermentation safety and productivity.

Simplified Downstream Processing Icon

Enhanced excretion simplifies the separation of the gum from the cells, reducing purification complexity and cost.

High and Consistent Titer Icon

Flux optimization and a robust host lead to a higher and more consistent final product concentration.

Biocompatibility and Purity Icon

The system is designed to yield a product with high purity suitable for demanding hydrogel and medical applications.

We deliver a versatile, high-quality Gellan Gum production platform with unparalleled control over product functionality.

Process

Our Gellan Gum engineering service follows a rigorous, multi-stage research workflow:

• Pathway Transfer and Host Switch: Clone the Gellan Gum synthesis gene cluster from Sphingomonas elodea and integrate it into the chromosome of a robust host e.g. E. coli or B. subtilis.
• Acetylation Control Engineering: Genetically modify the expression of the Acetylation enzyme within the transferred cluster, creating tunable strains for high-acyl, low-acyl, and intermediate variants.
• Precursor Flux Balancing: Metabolically engineer the host to maximize the availability of nucleotide sugar precursors e.g. UDP-Glucose needed for the Gellan Gum polymer backbone.
• Fermentation Optimization: Develop high-cell-density fed-batch fermentation protocols to achieve maximum Gellan Gum titer and optimize conditions for the desired Acetylation level.
• Product Characterization and Functionality Testing: Quantify the final Gellan Gum yield and chemically characterize the degree of Acetylation via HPLC or NMR, and validate its gel strength and rheology.

Technical communication is maintained throughout the process, focusing on timely feedback regarding yield and product quality attributes.

Explore the potential for a custom-functionalized, high-purity Gellan Gum supply. CD Biosynsis provides customized strain and process engineering solutions:

• Detailed Gellan Gum Titer and Acetylation Reports g/L, percentage of Acetylation from optimized runs.
• Consultation on process scale-up and downstream recovery strategies for improved efficiency.
• Experimental reports include complete raw data on precursor pool size, gene expression levels, and final gel strength measurements.