Expression and characterization of a potential exopolysaccharide from a newly isolated halophilic thermotolerant bacteria strain WB1.

The halophilic bacterial strain WB1 isolated from a hydrothermal vent was taxonomically characterized using multiple proxies, as strain WB1. When grown on malt extract/yeast extract (MY) medium, it produced large quantities of exopolysaccharide (EPS). The polymer was synthesized at a higher rate during the log and early stationary phases. The anionic polysaccharide is primarily composed of glucose, mannose, and galactose. The studied EPS was highly viscous and had pseudoplastic nature. The EPS was found to be a mixture of three polysaccharides under FT-IR, which makes it less labile to environmental diagenesis. It also has emulsifying and antioxidant activity along with the binding capacity to heavy metals. The EPS has unique and interesting physical and chemical properties, which are different from earlier reported exo-polysaccharides produced by different bacterial genus. This suggests that the extreme geological niches like hypersaline, hyperthermal, hypothermal, and oligophilic environments, which are not well studied so far, can offer extensive and potential resources for medical, biotechnological and industrial applications. The study clearly showed that the thermal springs from the temperate region can be a potent source of many such industrially important microbial genera and need further detailed studies to be carried out.