Patent ID: 7883877

Claim:
A method for hyper-producing exopolysaccharide, comprising: culturing a first strain of bacteria under conditions and for a time sufficient to permit exopolysaccharide production in a bacterial culture which comprises said first strain of bacteria, wherein the first strain of bacteria is capable of exopolysaccharide hyper-production in slime form even when expressing a polypeptide encoded by a nucleic acid molecule that 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 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 Sphingomona, and wherein said first strain of bacteria produces statistically significantly more exopolysaccharide than does a second strain of bacteria that is not capable of exopolysaccharide hyper-production in slime form when expressing the polypeptide; and separating the exopolysaccharide in slime form from the bacterial culture.