Successful preparation and characterization of biotechnological grade agarose from indigenous Gelidium amansii of Taiwan

Abstract

This paper reports the first successful preparation of biotechnological grade agarose from Gelidium amansii found in Taiwan. The scale-efficiency preparation was achieved by shortening EDTA treatment time through dispersing G. amansii agar in water in the presence of heat and EDTA, removing agaropectin impurity with a heat-compatible and strong-anion exchange resin, and precipitating agarose with a cost-effective isopropanol method. The yield of agarose from prepared G. amansii agar was 11.3%. The acquired agarose has a gel strength of 853 g cm(-2), a sulfate content of 0.14%, a pyruvate content of 1.03%, a degree of electroendosmosis of 0.16 and very limited binding affinity to DNA. The excellent properties of agarose from G. amansii of Taiwan confirm its potential diverse biotechnological applications. This innovative agarose preparation method with the significantly improved scale-efficiency can be modified for large-scale preparation of agarose for use in biotechnological industry and biochemical research. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.