ABSTRACT
Polysaccharides are sugar polymers commonly found in nature, where they are distributed among plants, fungi, yeasts and bacteria. In nature, polysaccharides have multifaceted biological functions such as cellular communication (glycosaminoglycans), storage of energy (starch and glycogen), cell wall architecture (cellulose and chitin), and biological defence. Polysaccharides are macromolecules varying in molecular weight from hundreds to sometimes several millions of Daltons and are either composed of one type of monosaccharide (homopolymer) or two or more different types of monosaccharide (heteropolymer) and can be substituted by non-carbohydrate compounds. Bacterial polysaccharides are constituents of cell walls, and form part of lipopolysaccharides (LPS), capsular polysaccharides (CPS), and are used as storage units, or secreted into the extracellular environment as exopolysaccharides (EPS).
