• Issue

    Biopolymers: Volume 113, Issue 9

    September 2022

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  • First Published: 22 September 2022
Cover Image Issue 9, 2022

Kosuke Okeyoshi, Tatsuo Kaneko and team review the structure, morphology and assembly of the ampholytic polysaccharide sacran extracted from the cyanobacteria Aphanothece sacrum. Compared with many microbial polysaccharides sacran has an extremely high molecular weight of over 107 gmol−1 and narrow size distribution. Self-assembly occurs over a large length scale, producing bundles with twisted morphologies from the nanoscale to the microscale with diameters of ~1 μm and lengths of > 800 μm. Unusually for such fibres those of sacran are flexible, giving rise to properties – e.g., ability to absorb metals, anti-inflammatory activity and transdermal drug-carrying capacity – that render them suitable for myriad applications. DOI: 10.1002/bip.23522

ISSUE INFORMATION

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Issue Information

  • First Published: 22 September 2022