Gellan gum is a kind of anionic polysaccharide produced through the submerged fermentation of the bacterium Sphingomonas elodea. It is soluble in water. It is a polymer with tetrascharide being the repeating unit; the tetrascharide consists of two residues of D-glucose and one of each residue of L-rhamnose and D-glucuronic acid. It can be used as a gelling, texturizing and suspension hydrocolloid. It is a suitable agar substitute which can be supplemented to various kinds of growth media for microbes, especially thermophilic microorganisms because of its resistance to relatively high temperature (120 degree). It can also be used as gelling agent in plant cell culture on Petri dishes. It can also be used as a food additive, e.g. it can be used in plant based milks to keep plant protein suspended in the milk.
