Characterization and comparison of Porphyridium sordidum and Porphyridium purpureum concerning growth characteristics and polysaccharide production
Introduction
Among the different products generated by microalgae, the polysaccharides represent important bio-macromolecules. Basically, there are two types of polysaccharides that are produced by microalgae, the storage polysaccharides in the cytoplasm and the secreted ones, which can be found in the culture media, also known as exopolysaccharides [1,2]. EPSs are produced by various microbes, with the xanthan gum producing bacteria Xanthomonas campestris as the best known commercial representative [3]. Other bacteria described to produce EPS are Azotobacter vinelandii (alginate), Sphingomonas paucimobilis (gellan), and Bacillus subtilis (levan) [[4], [5], [6]]. Additionally, some fungi have been described as EPS producer, such as Aureobasidium pullulans (pullulan) and Sclerotium glutanicum (scleroglucan) to name just two [4,7]. These EPSs have multiple applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries because of their rheological and health promoting properties [8,9]. Unlike most bacterial and fungal EPSs, microalgae EPSs can bear specific functional substituents like methyl (CH3) and sulfate (SO4−2) groups. These substituents confer unique properties to the EPS for broader applications as antiviral, anticoagulation and bioremediation agents [[10], [11], [12]].
Currently, several cyanobacteria (prokaryotic algae) are known as EPS producers. The most important ones are Nostoc, Phormidium, Arthrospira and Cyanothece genus [13,14]. On the other hand, several phyla of eukaryotic microalgae are also reported to produce EPSs, such as Chlorophyta (green microalgae), Bacillariophyta (diatoms), Cryptophyta, Miozoa (dinoflagellates) and Rhodophyta (red microalgae) [2,13,15]. Several genuses from the Rhodophyta such as Rhodella, Flintiella, Rhodosorus and Porphyridium have been described as EPS producers [[16], [17], [18], [19], [20]].
In this work, Porphyridium sordidum was characterized in detail as an EPS producer for the first time. Although, this strain is a Rhodophyta, it has a distinctive olive-green color [[21], [22], [23], [24]]. In addition, P. sordidum was compared to the better characterized EPS producing Rhodophyta, P. purpureum, by analyzing growth behavior, EPS productivity and composition [25].
Section snippets
Chemical and reagents
All reagents were of analytical or microbiological grade and were purchased from Carl Roth GmbH (Karlsruhe, Germany) or Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany) unless stated otherwise. All the experiments were performed with ultra-pure water obtained from a PURELAB system.
Microalgae strains and culture conditions
The two microalgae used in this work, Porphyridium sordidum (SAG 114.7) and Porphyridium purpureum (SAG 1380-1a) were initially cultivated in different media such as Bold's Basal Medium (BBM), BG-11, modified Provasoli (Pm) and
Evaluation of the most suitable media composition and morphological characterization
Different prevalent media were tested to identify the most suitable one for both Porphyridium strains due to the different sources of where this genus can be found (fresh and salty water) [33]. The use of BBM and BG-11 resulted in poor growth of P. purpureum. The modified Pm and ASW medium presented cell growth for P. purpureum, but a higher growth was detected in the modified ASW medium (data not shown). Therefore, this medium was chosen to perform the following experiments. Even more, the ASW
Conclusions
P. sordidum, as relative new EPS producer, was compared to the already described EPS producer P. purpureum in detail. The phenotypical differences were mainly the bigger sized cells and the olive-green color of P. sordidum, compared to the red colored and smaller sized cells of P. purpureum. Uptake of nitrate and phosphate was higher for P. purpureum, which led to better growth, corroborating that an enriched medium (modified ASW) enhanced the growth of P. purpureum in contrast to P. sordidum.
Author contributions
EVMC performed the experiments. JS VS and EVMC designed the study. EVMC, JS and BR analyzed and interpreted the data. EVMC JS and BR wrote the manuscript. All authors revised it critically for scientifically as well as technically soundness. All authors approve of the final version to be submitted.
Informed consent, human/animal rights
No conflicts, informed consent, or human or animal rights are applicable to this study.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This project was funded by Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT)-Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica (CONCYTEC), Peru, grant 248-2015 – FONDECYT. Many thanks to Anja Schmidt for the help with development of the cylinder system, Tristan Rath and Manuel Döring for the help with the PMP and MS analysis of the EPS, Samed Güner for the advice, enzyme and reagents used to determine the sulfate content of the EPSs, Moritz Gansbiller and Christoph
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