Curdlan gum is a neutral water-insoluble bacterial exopolysaccharide composed primarily of linear β-(1,3) glycosidic linkages. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the applications of
curdlan and its derivatives.
Curdlan is found to inhibit
tumors and its sulfated derivative possess anti-HIV activity.
Curdlan is biodegradable, non-toxic towards human, environment and edible which makes it suitable as
drug-delivery vehicles for sustained drug release. The increasing demand for the growing applications of
curdlan requires an efficient high yield fermentation production process so as to satisfy the industrial needs. In this perspective, the present work is aimed to screen and isolate an efficient
curdlan gum producing bacteria from rhizosphere of ground nut plant using
aniline-blue agar. High yielding isolate was selected based on
curdlan yield and identified as Bacillus cereus using gas-chromatography
fatty acid methyl
ester analysis. B. cereus PR3
curdlan gum was characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM, XRD and TGA. Fermentation time for
curdlan production using B. cereus PR3 was optimized. Media constituents like
carbon,
nitrogen and
mineral sources were screened using Plackett-Burman design. Subsequent statistical analysis revealed that
Starch, NH4NO3,
K2HPO4, Na2SO4, KH2SO4 and CaCl2 were significant media constituents and these concentrations were optimized for enhancement of
curdlan production up to 20.88 g/l.