Description
GESOLGELโข MTC is a premium low acyl gellan gum tailored for crafting optimal growth matrices in plant tissue culture. It supersedes agar in most micropropagation applications, offering superior purity, dramatically lower usage rates and ideal growth conditions across a wide range of plant species, including orchids, banana plants, grapes and woody-type plants.
Produced by fermentation rather than harvested from seaweed, gellan gum delivers batch to batch consistency that agar cannot match. The resulting gel is optically clear, allowing root development, callus formation and early contamination to be observed without disturbing the culture vessel. GESOLGELโข MTC sets rapidly, holds its structure at elevated temperatures and is free of the toxic trace elements and organic residues that commonly cause culture browning and failure.
We also supply High Acyl Plant Cell Gellan Gum.
Key benefits
- Uses less product: 2 to 5 g/L versus 6 to 12 g/L for agar, so a single container goes considerably further
- Crystal clear gel: monitor root architecture, callus and contamination without opening the vessel
- Rapid, reliable setting: consistent gel strength across batches and media formulations
- High temperature stability: holds gel structure well above standard incubation temperatures
- Low contaminant load: minimises toxic elements and residues that inhibit sensitive explants
- Broad compatibility: works with MS, WPM, Knudson C, Vacin and Went and most standard and custom media
- Auto-cleavable: suitable as a matrix for incubating thermophilic microorganisms in microbiological work
Recommended usage
- Standard herbaceous species: 2.0 to 3.0 g/L
- Orchids and general micropropagation: 2.5 to 3.5 g/L
- Woody species and firmer matrices: 3.5 to 5.0 g/L
Preparation
- Disperse GESOLGELโข MTC into your media solution while stirring at room temperature to avoid clumping.
- Add media salts, sugar and any supplements, then adjust pH before autoclaving.
- Heat to dissolve, or autoclave at 121ยฐC for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Dispense while hot. The gel sets quickly on cooling, so work promptly.
Applications
- Orchid seed sowing, flasking and replating
- Banana, grape, berry and fruit tree micropropagation
- Woody and hardwood species tissue culture
- Callus induction and somatic embryogenesis
- Shoot multiplication and rooting stages
- Thermophilic microorganism culture
Product details
- Type: low acyl gellan gum
- Appearance: off white free flowing powder
- Working concentration: 2 to 5 g/L
- Gluten free, soy allergen free, animal free, vegan
- Store in a cool, dry place with the container sealed
FAQ
What is the difference between high acyl and low acyl gellan gum?
Both come from the same place. Gellan gum is a polysaccharide made by fermenting a bacterium called Sphingomonas elodea. Straight out of the fermenter, the polymer chain carries two acyl groups, glyceryl and acetyl, hanging off one of the sugar units. That is high acyl gellan, or native gellan.
Treat it with alkali and those groups come off, and what you are left with is low acyl gellan. GESOLGELโข MTC is a low acyl product.
The reason that one chemical step matters so much is that those side groups get in the way. Strip them off and the chains can pack in tight, forming ordered double helices that cross link into a rigid network. Leave them on and the chains never quite line up, so you get a loose, flexible network instead. Everything below follows from that.
Texture. Low acyl sets hard and a bit brittle. It cuts cleanly under a scalpel and holds its shape, which is what you want when you are slicing and replating. High acyl is soft and rubbery. Press it and it springs back rather than breaking.
Clarity. Low acyl gels are optically clear, so you can see root development, callus and any early contamination without opening the vessel. High acyl runs hazy to opaque. This alone is why most tissue culture protocols specify low acyl.
Setting and melting. Low acyl sets somewhere around 30 to 50ยฐC and, once it has set with enough cations present, is close to thermally irreversible. It will sit happily in a warm incubation room without slumping. High acyl sets much higher, around 70 to 80ยฐC, and is properly thermoreversible, so it will remelt if you heat it again.
Cations. Worth knowing before you make up a batch: low acyl gellan needs divalent cations, calcium and magnesium, to gel properly. Standard MS or WPM salts supply plenty, so in normal use this is a non issue. It only bites you on a low salt custom medium, where you can end up with a disappointingly weak gel. High acyl gels largely on its own and is far less fussy about ion content.
Syneresis. Low acyl gels weep a little liquid over time. High acyl gels essentially do not, which is worth considering if your cultures sit for a long time between transfers.
How much you use. Low acyl runs at roughly 2 to 5 g/L for tissue culture. High acyl needs more to reach anything like the same firmness, and even then the feel is different, soft rather than rigid.
In short, low acyl is the industry default for plant tissue culture, because clarity and a firm, sliceable matrix are what most protocols are built around. High acyl still has its place. It is worth a look if you want a softer, more forgiving matrix, better water retention, or if syneresis is causing you grief, and some growers reckon it helps at the rooting stage.
