Scanning electron microscopy of: commercial curdlan—(A) 40x and (B) 1000x magnification; pre-gelled commercial curdlan—(C) 40x and (D) 1000x magnification; curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (pre-gelation method)—(E) 40x and (F) 1000x magnification; curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (precipitation method)—(G) 40x and (H) 1000x magnification.

<p>Scanning electron microscopy of: commercial curdlan—(A) 40x and (B) 1000x magnification; pre-gelled commercial curdlan—(C) 40x and (D) 1000x magnification; curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (pre-gelation method)—(E) 40x and (F) 1000x magnification; curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (precipitation method)—(G) 40x and (H) 1000x magnification.</p

FT-Raman spectra of: (A) commercial curdlan, (B) pre-gelled commercial curdlan, (C) curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (pre-gellation method), (D) curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (precipitation method).

<p>The dotted lines show the characteristic peaks of the samples.</p

Water Holding Capacity (WHC), Oil Holding Capacity (OHC) and Water Solubility Index (WSI) (g g^-1) of the commercial, pre-gelled commercial curdlans and those produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (pre-gelation method).

<p>Values indicate mean ± standard-deviation.</p

Flow curves of yogurt samples without heat treatment (A) with heat treatment (B); viscosity curves of yogurt samples without heat treatment (C) and with heat treatment (D).

<p>Yogurt without curdlan (–), with commercial curdlan (Δ), with pre-gelled commercial curdlan (○) and with curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (pre-gelation method) (■). The direction of the gray arrows indicates the ascendant and descendant curves.</p

Carbohydrate, moisture and sodium content (%) of different samples of curdlan.

<p>Values indicate mean ± standard-deviation.</p

Temperature dependency of: (A) apparent viscosity and (B) G' (continuous line) and G" (dotted line) modulus of the aqueous dispersions of curdlan.

<p>Pre-gelled commercial curdlan (empty symbol) and curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 recovered by the pre-gelation method (full symbol) at (■) 20, (●) 40 and (▲) 80 g L^-1.</p

Strength (×10⁻³ N) of pre-gelled commercial curdlan and the curdlan produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i> sp. IFO 13140 (pre-gelation method) samples after undergoing different heat treatments.

<p>Values indicate mean ± standard-deviation.</p