Production of functional polysaccharide: Gum arabic-variants

Gum arabic is produced by wild acacia trees in Africa. Gum arabic has unique feature as emulsifier of proteins and lipids in solution, and used widely in food industry. A major component  of Gum arabic is arabinogalactan, which is responsible for the emulsifying  property. 

 

We are interested in identifying glycosyltransferases involved in the biosynthetic pathway of arabinogalactan,  constructinon of the pathway in yeast, as well as finding the crucial structure for emulsifier function of the gum. The project is funded by DSF (Danish Council for Strategic Research in health, food and welfare).