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Mauran, an exopolysaccharide produced by the halophilic bacterium Halomonas maura, with a novel composition and interesting properties for biotechnology

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Abstract

Mauran is an anionic, sulfated heteropolysaccharide with a high uronic-acid content, synthesized by strain S-30 of the halophilic bacterium Halomonas maura. Under optimum environmental and nutritional conditions, it is capable of producing up to 3.8 g of mauran per liter of medium. Aqueous solutions of mauran are highly viscous and display pseudoplastic, viscoelastic and thixotropic behavior. Its viscosity is stable over a wide pH range (3–11), after freezing-thawing processes, and in the presence of sucrose, salts, surfactants and α-hydroxyl acids. It has a high capacity for binding lead and other cations. Its molecular mass when collected from an MY medium supplemented with 2.5% w/v salt during the stationary growth phase is 4.7×106 Da.

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Fig. 1.
Fig. 2A, B.
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Fig. 5A–C.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to José Martos for his help with the studies into heavy-metal capture, and Concepción Hernandez and David Porcel for their expertise in microscope studies. This research was supported by a grant from the Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica (BOS2000-1519) and from the Plan Andaluz de Investigación, Spain. We also thank A.L. Tate for revising our English text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exopolysaccharide Research Group, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Soledad Arias, Ana del Moral, Maria Rita Ferrer, Emilia Quesada & Victoria Béjar

  2. University of Bordeaux, Gradignan, France

    Richard Tallon

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  1. Soledad Arias
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  2. Ana del Moral
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  3. Maria Rita Ferrer
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  4. Richard Tallon
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  5. Emilia Quesada
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Correspondence to Emilia Quesada.

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Communicated by W.D. Grant

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Arias, S., del Moral, A., Ferrer, M.R. et al. Mauran, an exopolysaccharide produced by the halophilic bacterium Halomonas maura, with a novel composition and interesting properties for biotechnology. Extremophiles 7, 319–326 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-003-0325-8

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