China 
Africa 
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Bioprocessing of Agrofood Industrial Wastes for the Production of Bacterial Exopolysaccharide
Published in V. Sivasubramanian, Bioprocess Engineering for a Green Environment, 2018
J. Kanimozhi, V. Sivasubramanian, Anant Achary, M. Vasanthi, Steffy P. Vinson, R. Sivashankar
Levan is a highly branched and complex homopolysaccharide of fructose. It is generally composed of d-fructofuranosyl residues attached together by β (2–6) and β (2–1) linkages. Levans are biosynthesized by the action of the enzyme levansucrase. Levan is synthesized from sucrose via the catalytic action of levansucrase, the enzyme responsible for both sucrose hydrolysis and the transfer of d-fructosyl residues from fructose to the levan chain by transfructosylation. Levans are primarily produced by the genera Bacillus, Rahnella, Aerobacter, Erwinia, Streptococcus, Pseudomonas, and Zymomonas (Bahl et al. 2010). Owing to the ease of production, levans have more advantages, as they are economically and industrially feasible with numerous applications. Apart from its biodegradability and biocompatibility properties, it has excellent biomedical properties; it is an anticarcinogenic, a hyperglycemic inhibitor, an anti-AIDS agent, an antioxidant, and an anti-inflammatory (Dahech et al. 2011). Due to its tremendous medicinal and polymeric properties, microbial levan is considered to be a valuable biopolymer with high potential.
Rheological properties of cross-linked inulin solutions as a function of cross-linker concentration and temperature
Published in Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology, 2023
Inulin is a non-digestible fructan composed of fructose units bonded by β-(2-1)-D-fructosyl fructose. Although it is mainly obtained from chicory roots, it is also found in various plants including onion, garlic, asparagus, wheat, leek, and banana.[1] Besides being a well-known prebiotic,[2,3] inulin has many beneficial effects on human health such as protective effect on gastrointestinal diseases, improving absorption of minerals, regulating of appetite, enhancing the immune system, increasing resistance to infections and inflammation and reducing osteoporosis as well as having high nutritional value.[1,4,5] In addition to health benefits, inulin also promotes the texture and mouthfeel of foods and beverages. Inulin has high solubility in water and imparts relatively low viscosity while having the capacity to replace fat in food matrices.[6] It also improves the stability of emulsions and can replace with other stabilizers in different food products.[7] Owing to these features, inulin is widely used in dairy products such as yogurt,[8] cheese,[9] ice cream,[10] bakery foods [11] or meat products.[12] Although the consumers increasingly care about the nutritional value and positive health impacts of foods than ever before, the physical and sensory properties of foods are still key factors for consumers’ acceptance. Therefore, efforts have been intensified to develop new food additives that positively affect both the physical properties of foods and their biofunctionality.