ABSTRACT
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Marine poly-oligosaccharides have been found to have signicant commercial importance to various industrial applications. These have been developed over the years with demand for improvements in material or process or performance of nal desired product. Presently, many industrial applications of natural polymers and their derivatives are most fascinating and they are most investigated. For this purpose, biodegradable natural polymers such as polysaccharides and proteins nd way into industries. The very nature of these oligosaccharides has been understood over the years, and applications are developed to reduce cost and better performance with the use of biodegradable material. The eld of natural polysaccharides of marine origin is already large and however expanding rapidly. Seaweed is the most abundant source of polysaccharides such as alginates, agar, and agarose as well as carrageenan, while chitin and chitosan are extracted from exoskeleton of marine crustaceans. Such a wide variety of poly-oligosaccharides can be derived from plant or animal origin using chemical or biological methods. Advances in biotechnology have led the way to produce a couple of these polysaccharides in vitro using microorganisms controlling growth mechanism. Alginic acid, chitin, chitosan, agar, and carrageen are naturally occurring abundant and cheap marine polysaccharides. Paola (2010) and Steinbuckel and Rahee (2010) have recently reviewed applications of marine polysaccharides to pharmaceutical and food industry.
