Abstract
A unicellular cyanobacterium that produces a large amount of exopolysaccharide (EPS) was isolated from a rice field in Phu Tho Province, Vietnam. Morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis using a partial sequence of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the isolate was closely related to the genus Cyanothece. The isolate, named Cyanothece sp. Viet Nam 01, grew at a wide range of temperatures (25–40 °C), but was not viable below 20 °C. The isolate had an ability of aerobic nitrogen fixation. The EPS was purified using NaOH extraction and ethanol precipitation, and the absolute molecular weight was estimated to be 4.5 × 104 kDa. The pattern of the Fourier transform infrared spectrum indicated that the EPS had carbonyl and sulfate groups, as well as the typical functional groups of sugars. The uronic acid and sulfur contents were 23 and 8.4 mol% per total monosaccharide, respectively. The EPS constituent monosaccharides were rhamnose, glucose, galactose, xylose, mannose, fucose, arabinose, ribose, and unknown sugar, with molar compositions of 38.6:13.8:4.8:4.8:2.4:3.5:2.0:0.6:6.5, respectively.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid (C) 20280208 to KO and a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) 24780082 to YK. The authors express their thanks to Prof. S. Ohki and the staff of the Research Center for Bioresources Development, Fukui Prefectural University, for their help during the 5-L culture experiments.
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Ohki, K., Le, N.Q.T., Yoshikawa, S. et al. Exopolysaccharide production by a unicellular freshwater cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. isolated from a rice field in Vietnam. J Appl Phycol 26, 265–272 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-013-0094-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-013-0094-4