Coherent Aspects of Multifaceted Eco-friendly Biopolymer - Polyglutamic Acid from the Microbes

Popularity of Polyglutamate (PGA) in industrial applications has motivated an extensive research in the area of bioprocess engineering for its production, strain improvement, advancements in analytical methods and applications. Some facets of PGA still remain a challenge and offer the researchers with time consuming methods to seek deeper insights into the behaviour of molecules. A few simple analytical approaches have been explained which can be used to address those challenges. This review focuses on understanding each step involved in manufacturing, analysis and applications of PGA. An attempt is made towards understanding the chemistry of PGA and its interaction with various other compounds. Occurrence of PGA in various conformational states under the influence of different environmental conditions is discussed. The properties of the biopolymer largely depend on its chain length which in turn arises due to diverse conditions in which it is biosynthesized by the microorganisms. Applications of PGA in various fields of food, agriculture, medical, cosmetics etc. are also dependent on the molecular weight and conformations of PGA under the given set of conditions. A few major applications of PGA which make this biopolymer an industrially influential molecule have been described. Keywords: Polyglutamic acid, properties, conformations, applications.