Print Email Facebook Twitter Sulfated glycosaminoglycan-like polymers are present in an acidophilic biofilm from a sulfidic cave Title Sulfated glycosaminoglycan-like polymers are present in an acidophilic biofilm from a sulfidic cave Author de Bruin, S. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Vasquez Cardenas, D. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology; Universiteit Antwerpen) Sarbu, S. M. (California State University, Chico; Babeș-Bolyai University) Meysman, F.J.R. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology; Universiteit Antwerpen) Sousa, D. Z. (Wageningen University & Research) van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Lin, Y. (TU Delft Environmental Fluid Mechanics) Date 2022 Abstract Sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAG) are negatively charged extracellular polymeric substances that occur in biofilms from various environments. Yet, it remains unclear whether these polymers are acquired from the external environment or produced by microbes in the biofilm. To resolve this, we analyzed the presence of sGAGs in samples of an acidophilic biofilm collected from Sulfur Cave in Puturosu Mountain (Romania), an environment that is largely inaccessible to contamination. A maximum of 55.16 ± 2.06 μg sGAG-like polymers were recovered per mg of EPS. Enzymatic treatment with chondroitinase ABC resulted in a decrease of the mass of these polymers, suggesting the structure of the recovered sGAG is similar to chondroitin. Subsequent FT-IR analysis of these polymers revealed absorbance bands at 1230 cm−1, 1167 cm−1 and 900 cm−1, indicating a possible presence of polysaccharides and sulfate. Analysis of genomic sequences closely related to those predominant in the acidophilic biofilm, contained genes coding for sulfotransferase (an enzyme needed for the production of sGAG), which supports the hypothesis of microbial synthesis of sGAGs within the biofilm. Subject EPSExtremophilesRomaniaSulfur Cave To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f291cca8-c4db-4038-84ca-775d63fdcf62 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154472 ISSN 0048-9697 Source Science of the Total Environment, 829 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2022 S. de Bruin, D. Vasquez Cardenas, S. M. Sarbu, F.J.R. Meysman, D. Z. Sousa, Mark C.M. van Loosdrecht, Y. Lin Files PDF 1_s2.0_S0048969722015650_main.pdf 1.08 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:f291cca8-c4db-4038-84ca-775d63fdcf62/datastream/OBJ/view