Abstract
Conditions were developed for the reproducible production, isolation and characterization of a novel microbial extracellular polysaccharide believed to be involved in transient viscous bulking at an industrial wastewater treatment plant. The exopolysaccharide was extracted from cell-free culture supernatants of Thauera sp. strain MZ1T grown on a minimal medium with succinate. The purified polymer was found to be approximately 260 kDa in size by gel-permeation chromatography. The GC-MS analysis of the alditol acetate and per-O-trimethylsilyl methyl glycoside derivatives revealed that the exopolysaccharide was composed of four monosaccharides including: rhamnose, galacturonic acid, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylfucosamine. Glucose, which also appeared at low levels, is most likely from a co-eluting glucan. The FTIR and NMR spectroscopic analyses further revealed the presence of esterified component groups on the polymer. These results represent the first published description of a polysaccharide from a member of the genus Thauera, and lay the foundation for a deeper understanding of the factors potentially involved in zoogloeal cluster formation and viscous bulking.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 780-790 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Environmental Microbiology |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Aug 2004 |