🌿 : How to Use Gellan Gum as a Gelling Agent for Plant Tissue Culture Media
🧬 The Role of Gelling Agents in Plant Tissue Culture
Plant tissue culture relies on a semi-solid medium to support the growth and development of explants under sterile conditions. This medium must:
- ✅ Remain stable during incubation
- ✅ Allow nutrient and hormone diffusion
- ✅ Support root and shoot formation
Traditionally, agar has been used, but today's labs are increasingly choosing gellan gum for its superior clarity, purity, and consistency.
🧊 Why Gellan Gum Outperforms Agar
| Feature | Gellan Gum 🟢 | Agar 🔴 |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Bacterial fermentation | Seaweed extract |
| Clarity | ✅ Crystal clear | ⚠️ Slightly opaque |
| Gelling consistency | ✅ Highly uniform | ⚠️ Batch variability |
| Required concentration | 2–4 g/L | 6–10 g/L |
| Purity | ✅ Ultra-high | ❌ Contains impurities |
| Ionic sensitivity | ✅ Tunable | ❌ Limited |
⚗️ How to Use Gellan Gum in Plant Tissue Culture Media
1. Recommended Concentration
- Use 2.5 g/L to 3.5 g/L of high-purity low acyl gellan gum
- (adjust based on the desired gel strength and ionic content of your medium)
2. Hydration & Mixing
- Premix gellan gum with dry ingredients (e.g., MS salts, sucrose) to avoid clumping
- Add the mixture to distilled water with constant stirring
- Heat the solution to 80–90°C to ensure complete hydration
3. pH Adjustment
- Adjust the pH of the solution to 5.7–5.8 before autoclaving
- Gellan gum gels best at this pH range
4. Sterilization
- Autoclave the complete medium at 121°C for 15–20 minutes
- Allow it to cool and set in culture vessels or Petri dishes
⚠️ Tips & Precautions for Best Results
- Ionic strength matters: Gellan gum gel strength is affected by calcium, magnesium, and potassium ions.Add divalent cations (like Ca²⁺) carefully to tune gel firmness.
- Avoid over-autoclaving: Prolonged heat can degrade gellan gum slightly. Stick to standard sterilization cycles.
- Prevent clumping: Always pre-blend the powder or disperse in cold water before heating.
- Use pure water: Avoid impurities or high mineral content in water, which may interfere with gelation.
🌱 Applications in Micropropagation
- 🍌 Banana and pineapple tissue culture
- 🌸 Orchid and ornamental propagation
- 🌾 Rice, wheat, and other cereal tissue culture
- 🌿 Medicinal plants and endangered species cloning
Gellan gum supports:
- Firm gels for easy explant transfer
- High transparency for root/shoot monitoring
- Reduced contamination compared to agar
🏷️ CINOGEL Biotech: Trusted Partner for Tissue Culture Media
For over 15 years, CINOGEL Biotech has been supplying premium low-acyl gellan gum to research labs, seed companies, and biotech institutions. Our plant-tissue culture grade gellan gum offers:
- 🧪 High clarity and purity
- ⚖️ Consistent gel strength
- 🌍 Global shipping and technical support
Choose CINOGEL for precision, performance, and peace of mind in every batch of media.
✅ Final Takeaway
Whether you're propagating orchids, conserving endangered species, or developing new crops, gellan gum is the next-generation gelling agent for plant tissue culture.
It delivers clean gels, reliable results, and superior clarity-all with lower dosages than agar.
