''Sphingomonas elodea'' is a species of bacteria in the genus ''

Sphingomonas ''Sphingomonas'' was defined in 1990 as a group of Gram-negative, rod-shaped, chemoheterotrophic, strictly aerobic bacteria. They possess ubiquinone 10 as their major respiratory quinone, contain glycosphingolipids (GSLs), specifically ceramide ...

''. This species is important to humans due to the fact that it produces

gellan gum Gellan gum is a water-soluble anionic polysaccharide produced by the bacterium '' Sphingomonas elodea'' (formerly ''Pseudomonas elodea'' based on the taxonomic classification at the time of its discovery). The gellan-producing bacterium was disco ...

, a suitable agar substitute as a gelling agent in various clinical bacteriological media and especially important for the culture growth of thermophilic microorganisms in solid media. When the gellan gum-producing bacterium was first isolated from a natural lily pond it was classified as ''Pseudomonas elodea'' based on the taxonomic classification of that time. However, the gellan gum-producing bacterium was subsequently re-classified as '' Sphingomonas elodea'' based on the current taxonomic classification. ''Sphingomonas elodea'' metabolizes

maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that is used as a food ingredient. It is produced from vegetable starch by partial hydrolysis and is usually found as a white hygroscopic spray-dried powder. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as ...

(oligosaccharides of glucose) externally into glucose by the putative exo-acting glucosidase. ''Sphingomonas elodea'' utilizes the Entner-Doudoroff pathway for glucose metabolism.

References

elodea ''Elodea'' is a genus of 6 species of aquatic plants often called the waterweeds described as a genus in 1803. Classified in the frog’s-bit family ( Hydrocharitaceae), ''Elodea'' is native to the Americas and is also widely used as aquarium ve ...

Bacteria described in 1995 {{Sphingomonadales-stub