Microbial exopolysaccharides (EPS) like xanthan are widely exploited as natural biopolymers in diverse industrial sectors. In foods, in-situ EPS formation by starter cultures allows the manufacturing of “clean labeled” products with improved textural and nutritional properties. We performed structural analyses of the cell surface-associated EPS produced by Lactobacillus plantarum TMW 1.1478, which is a promising starter culture for fermented foods. Chromatographic analyses and NMR experiments suggested an acetylated heptameric repeating unit comprised of glucose, rhamnose and galactose as major components, whereas analysis of the macromolecular HePS structure suggested an apparent molecular mass of M_r ~2 × 10⁶ and a root mean square (RMS) radius of ca. 60 nm. Genetic analyses enabled the identification of the respective EPS biosynthesis cluster, and its modular organization supports the chemically identified, novel EPS structure. The obtained results broaden the understanding of complex EPS formation from activated sugar nucleotides by Lactobacillus plantarum.

像黄原胶这样的微生物胞外多糖（EPS）在各种工业领域中被广泛用作天然生物聚合物。在食品中，通过发酵剂培养原位形成EPS可以生产具有改善的质地和营养特性的“清洁标签”产品。我们对植物乳杆菌TMW 1.1478产生的细胞表面相关EPS进行了结构分析，这是一种有前途的发酵食品发酵剂。色谱分析和NMR实验表明包含葡萄糖，鼠李糖和半乳糖作为主要成分的乙酰化七聚体重复单元，而大分子HEPS结构的分析表明M的表观分子质量_{- [R}〜2×10 ⁶且均方根（RMS）半径为ca。60纳米 遗传分析可以识别相应的EPS生物合成簇，并且其模块化组织支持化学识别的新颖EPS结构。获得的结果拓宽了植物乳杆菌从活化糖核苷酸形成复杂EPS的认识。