Td. Leathers et al., RAPID SCREENING OF LEUCONOSTOC-MESENTEROIDES MUTANTS FOR ELEVATED PROPORTIONS OF ALTERNAN TO DEXTRAN, Current microbiology, 31(1), 1995, pp. 19-22
Certain isolates of the bacterium Leuconostoc mesenteroides, such as s
train NRRL B-1355, have been found to produce alternan, a polysacchari
de with unique properties of potentially high commercial value. Howeve
r, all of these isolates also produce significant amounts of the polys
accharide dextran, which would be costly to separate from alternan on
a commercial basis. We developed a rapid screening method for the isol
ation of L. mesenteroides mutants that produce elevated proportions of
alternan to dextran. With this technique, a set of mutants of strain
NRRL B-1355 was isolated, including strain NRRL B-21138, which produce
d a high proportion of alternan to dextran and showed complete genetic
stability after more than 60 generations.