Compositional similarities and differences between transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs) from two marine bacteria and two marine algae: Significance to surface biofouling

• Published in: Marine chemistry 2015-08, Vol.174, p.131-140
• Main Authors: Li, S., Winters, H., Villacorte, L.O., Ekowati, Y., Emwas, Abdul-Hamid, Kennedy, M.D., Amy, G.L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alexandrium tamarense; Algae; Analogies; Bacteria; Biofouling; Chaetoceros affinis; Marine; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Precursors; Pseudoalteromonas atlantica; Reverse osmosis; Transparent exopolymer particles
• ISSN: 0304-4203; 1872-7581
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marchem.2015.06.009

Transparent-exopolymer-particles (TEPs) have been recently identified as a significant contributor to surface biofouling, such as on reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. TEP research has mainly focused on algal TEP/TEP precursors while limited investigations have been conducted on those released by bacteria. In this study, TEP/TEP precursors derived from both algae and bacteria were isolated and then characterized to investigate their similarities and/or differences using various advanced analytical techniques, thus providing a better understanding of their potential effect on biofouling. Bacterial TEP/TEP precursors were isolated from two species of marine bacteria (Pseudidiomarina homiensis and Pseudoalteromonas atlantica) while algal TEP/TEP precursors were isolated from two marine algae species (Alexandrium tamarense and Chaetoceros affinis). Results indicated that both isolated bacterial and algal TEP/TEP precursors were associated with protein-like materials, and most TEP precursors were high-molecular-weight biopolymers. Furthermore all investigated algal and bacterial TEP/TEP precursors showed a lectin-like property, which can enable them to act as a chemical conditioning layer and to agglutinate bacteria. This property may enhance surface biofouling. However, both proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra and the nitrogen/carbon (N/C) ratios suggested that the algal TEP/TEP precursors contained much less protein content than the bacterial TEP/TEP precursors. This difference may influence their initial deposition and further development of surface biofouling. •Bacterial & algal TEPs contain high amount of high-molecular-weight biopolymers.•Bacterial & algal TEPs have lectin-like property enhancing bacteria agglutination.•Algal TEPs are compositionally different from bacterial TEPs, and may influence surface biofouling.