Physicochemical and Rheological Properties of a Novel Emulsifier, EPS-R, Produced by the Marine Bacterium Hahella chejuensis

The rheological properties of an exopolysaccharide, EPS-R, produced by the marine bacterium Hahella chejuensis strain 96CJ 10356 were investigated. The $E_{24}$ of $0.5\%$ EPS-R was $89.2\%$, which was higher than that observed in commercial polysaccharides such as xanthan gum ($67.8\%$), gellan gum ($2.01\%$) or sodium alginate ($1.02\%$). Glucose and galactose are the main Sugars in EPS-R, with a molar ratio of ${\~}1:6.8$, xylose and ribose are minor sugar components. The average molecular mass, as determined by gel filtration chromatography, was $2.2{\times}10^3$ KDa, The intrinsic viscosities of EPS-R were calculated to be 16.5 and 15.9 dL/g using the Huggins and Kraemer equations, respectively, with a 2.3 dL/g overlap. In terms of rigidity, the conformation of EPS-R was similar to that of caboxymethyl cellulose ($5.0{\times}10^{-2}$). The rheological behavior of EPS-R dispersion indicated that the formation of a structure intermediate between that of a random-coil polysaccharide and a weak gel. The aqueous dispersion of EPS-R at concentrations ranging from 0.25 to $1.0\%$ (w/w) showed a marked shear-thinning property in accordance with Power-law behavior. In aqueous dispersions of $1.0\%$ EPS-R, the consistency index (K) and flow behavior index (n) were 1,410 and 0.73, respectively. EPS-R was Stable to pH and salts.