What does polyglutamic acid do?

What Is Polyglutamic Acid?

Polyglutamic acid (PGA), also known as natto gum, is a water-soluble, biodegradable, non-toxic biopolymer produced by microbial fermentation. It is a type of homopolymer amino acid formed by the polymerization of glutamic acid monomers through amide bonds.

Polyglutamic acid was first discovered in natto and has the effect of promoting mineral absorption. Polyglutamic acid also has a strong moisturizing effect, which can enhance skin elasticity, improve skin smoothness, long-term moisturizing, and anti-wrinkle. It has certain health benefits for human physical and mental health, has the effect of beauty and can improve the ductility of the skin.

What Are The Features Of Polyglutamic Acid?

1.A large number of water-locking groups, high water absorption, high viscosity, and chelation. Each γ-PGA molecule contains more than 1,000 water-locking groups (-COOH), which makes it highly absorbent and highly viscous.

2.It can adjust both acidity and alkali, and achieve two-way adjustment of the buffering capacity for acid and alkali, which can effectively balance the pH value of the soil and avoid acidic soil and soil plate formation caused by long-term use of chemical fertilizers.

3.Chelating nutrients, increasing efficiency and slow release, and improving crop yield and quality. Chelating trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, and iron fixed by acid ions in the soil can significantly retain water, and play a role in increasing efficiency and slow release, thereby improving crop yield and quality.

What Are The Functions Of Polyglutamic Acid?

1.Moisture retention

Polyglutamic acid is a low-molecular polypeptide with biological activity. It interacts with fibrin to form a protective film, thereby reducing water loss.

2.Water retention

Polyglutamic acid can bind to macromolecular substances on the plant cell wall to form a protective layer to prevent water evaporation, thereby playing a role in water retention.

3.Improve fertilizer utilization

Polyglutamic acid can form complexes with trace elements in the soil, promote the effective absorption of these elements, and thus improve the utilization rate of fertilizers.

4.Improve soil structure

Polyglutamic acid can be decomposed by microorganisms in the soil to produce organic acids, which helps to break soil compaction and improve soil structure.

5.Inhibit harmful microorganisms

Polyglutamic acid can bind to receptors on the surface of certain bacteria or fungi, interfering with their growth and reproduction process, thereby achieving the purpose of inhibiting harmful microorganisms.

What Is The Application Of Polyglutamic Acid?

Food industry

1) Food refrigeration antifreeze: As a negatively charged peptide chain, polyglutamic acid has good high antifreeze resistance and can be often used in food refrigeration antifreeze to prevent freezing and thawing from affecting the quality of food.

2) Bitterness remover: Reduce the bitterness of food caused by amino acids, inorganic salts, caffeine, etc.

3) Degradation products can promote the absorption of minerals by the small intestine, increase the hardness of eggshells, reduce fat accumulation, and also help prevent osteoporosis in the human body.

4) Used as an additive in starchy foods (bread and noodles) to avoid aging, improve the texture of food and maintain the shape of food.

5) It can also be used as a thickener for beverages, a stabilizer for ice cream, and functional beverages to improve the taste.

Cosmetics industry

Polyglutamic acid and its hydrogels are natural polymer materials suitable for various types of maintenance cosmetics and personal cleaning products. It has the following effects:

1) It can increase the natural moisturizing content of the skin

2) It can improve the long-term and high moisturizing effect of the skin

3) It promotes the elasticity of skin tissue

4) It has the effect of skin whitening

5) It effectively reduces the loss of water through the skin

6) It prevents the hair scales from falling off, thereby protecting the hair.

In agriculture

Polyglutamic acid also plays a pivotal role. It can be used as a slow-release carrier for pesticide chemicals. By increasing the existence time of pesticides on the surface of the target and the action time of active ingredients, it can enhance the effect of agricultural chemicals, reduce the amount of use, save costs, and protect the environment. Polyglutamic acid itself can also be used as a new type of liquid fertilizer to increase the absorption of nitrogen by plants. In addition, polyglutamic acid can also change the aggregate state of the soil, increase the moisture retention of the soil, and as a feed additive, it can increase the absorption of phosphorus by animals. Due to its high temperature resistance and flocculation effect, polyglutamic acid is often used as a bioflocculant in the environmental protection industry, and because of its good adsorption capacity for metal ions, it is also often used as a heavy metal adsorbent. In the fields of sewage treatment and water resource regeneration, polyglutamic acid also plays an important role.