Production and characterization of exopolysaccharides (EPS) from biofilm forming marine bacterium

By Muthusamy Ashok Kumar, K. T. K. Anandapandian, Karuppiah Parthiban. 2011

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ABSTRACT Marine water was used for the biofilm forming bacterial isolation. A biofilm forming device was made by using PVC pipes with sterile glass slides. Five morphologically different bacteria were isolated from the scrapping of glass slides from the device after a month period of time. The efficiency of EPS production was checked for all the isolates. Using scanning electron microscope (SEM), the morphology of microbial cells and colonies was studied. The maximum EPS was produced by the strain B3, which was analyzed and characterized by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra. B3 EPS displayed a strong absorption band of –OH at 3415.31 cm -1 and COOH at 1631.48 cm -1 showing it to be polysaccharide. Key words: Biofilm, Marine Bacteria, EPS, SEM, TLC and FTIR * Author for correspondence: ashogaa@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Bacteria can adhere to natural or artificial surfaces and form sessile multicellular communities known as biofilms (Dalton and March, 1998). Bacterial colonization on abiotic materials such as suspended particles, metal surfaces and concrete or on biotic surfaces was thought to be one of the microbial survival strategies because it provides microorganisms with important advantages, including, (i) increased access to nutrients; (ii) protection against toxins and antibiotics; (iii) maintenance of extracellular enzyme activities and (iv) shelter from predation (Dang and Lovell, 2000). Although the attachment is initially reversible, it becomes stronger and irreversible, with time (Dang and Lovell, 2000). Bacteria seem to initiate biofilm development in response to specific environmental cues, such as nutrient availability (Kotler et al., 1993). Recent advances in confocal scanning laser microscopy have allowed the visual inspection of fully hydrated biofilms, with a concomitant radical shift in how biofilm architecture is viewed and studied (Lawrence and Korber, 1991). Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are important in the attachment of bacteria to substrata and thus development of biofilms (Costerton et al., 1987). Exopolysaccharides are excreted from multiple bacterial species, which make biofilms a good source for screening exopolysaccharides producing bacteria (Davey and O’Toole, 2000). During the process of colonization on particular surfaces, bacteria produces extracellular polymeric

Subfields: Biomaterials, Ecology, Molecular Biology

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