Patent ID: 7883895

Claim:
A method for making a first strain of bacteria that are capable of hyper-producing an exopolysaccharide in slime form, comprising: (A) contacting, under conditions and for a time sufficient to produce mutagenized bacteria, (a) a mutagen, with (b) a second strain of bacteria that are capable of producing an exopolysaccharide in slime form, wherein the bacteria (i) contain a recombinant expression vector comprising at least one promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid molecule that encodes at least one polypeptide, wherein said nucleic acid molecule comprises a nucleotide sequence that is capable of hybridization to a probe under conditions that comprise exposure to 2×SSPE and 50% formamide at 42° C., wherein the probe consists of the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:1 or a complement of SEQ ID NO:1, and wherein said at least one polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 or a derivative thereof having at least about 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2, wherein the polypeptide inhibits sphingan production when present in a Sphingomonas species compared to sphingan production in an unmodified Sphingomonas , and (ii) express said at least one polypeptide of (i) such that exopolysaccharide production is suppressed, and thereby producing mutagenized bacteria; and (B) identifying among said mutagenized bacteria one or a plurality of bacteria that produce statistically significantly more exopolysaccharide than the second strain of bacteria and thereby obtaining said first strain of bacteria that are capable of hyper-producing exopolysaccharide in slime form.