Insight into the roles of soluble, loosely bound and tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances produced by Enterobacter sp. in the Cd2+ and Pb2+ biosorption process: Characterization and mechanism.

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) are macromolecular polymers formed by metabolic secretion, and they have great potential for removing heavy metal (HM) ions from the aquatic phase. In this study, the contributions of soluble EPSs (S-EPSs), loosely bound EPSs (LB-EPSs) and tightly bound EPSs (TB-EPSs) secreted by Enterobacter sp. to Cd2+ and Pb2+ adsorption were analyzed. The results indicated that in a solution containing both Cd2+ and Pb2+, pH= 6.0 was best suited for the adsorption process, and adsorption equilibrium was reached in approximately 120 min. Moreover, the mechanism for adsorption of Cd2+ and Pb2+ by the different layers of EPSs involved spontaneous chemical processes. However, Cd2+ adsorption by the three layers of the EPSs was an exothermic process (∆H0 <0), but Pb2+ adsorption by the three layers of the EPSs was an endothermic process (∆H0 >0). The variations in zeta potentials indicated that ion exchange occurred during Cd2+ and Pb2+ adsorption. FT-IR, XPS and 3D-EEM analyses indicated that the functional groups of the EPSs involved in adsorption were mainly the CO, C-O and C-O-C groups of the polysaccharides; furthermore, fulvic acid-like substances, humic-like substances and tyrosine-like proteins played important roles in the adsorption of Cd2+ and Pb2+ by the different EPS layers.

Bacterial extracellular polymeric substances: Impact on soil microbial community composition and their potential role in heavy metal-contaminated soil.

In this study, six different treatments involving extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from Enterobacter sp. FM-1 (FM-1) (no EPS (control), original bacterial cells (FM-1), FM-1 cells with EPS artificially removed (EPS-free cells, EPS-R), different forms of EPS (soluble EPS (S-EPS), loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS) and tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS)) obtained from FM-1) and three types of soils (non-contaminated soil (NC soil), high-contamination soil (HC soil) and low-contamination soil (LC soil)) were used to investigate the impact of different EPS treatments on soil microbial community composition and their potential role in the remediation of heavy metal (HM)-contaminated soil. The results indicate that the EPS secreted by FM-1 played a vital role in changing soil pH and helped increase soil bio- HMs. In addition, EPS secretion by FM-1 helped increase the soil EPS-polysaccharide and EPS-nucleic acid contents; even in HC soil, where the HM content was relatively high, LB-EPS addition still increased the EPS-polysaccharide and EPS-nucleic acid contents in the soil by 1.18- and 15.54-fold, respectively. FM-1, LB-EPS and TB-EPS addition increased the soil invertase, urease and alkaline phosphatase activities and increased the soil organic matter (SOM), NH4+-N and available phosphorus (AP) contents, which helped regulate soil nutrient reserves. Moreover, the addition of different EPS fractions modified the soil microbial community composition to help microbes adapt to an HM-contaminated environment. In the HC and LC soils, where the HM content was relatively high, the soil bacteria were dominated by Protobacteria, while fungi in the soil were dominated by Ascomycota. Among the soil physicochemical properties, the soil SOM and NH4+-N contents and invertase activity significantly impacted the diversity and community composition of both bacteria and fungi in the soil.

Variation in Extracellular Polymeric Substances from Enterobacter sp. and Their Pb2+ Adsorption Behaviors.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the cultivation time, temperature, and pH value on the yield and composition of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from Enterobacter sp. FM-1 (FM-1) and to analyze the Pb2+ adsorption behavior of soluble EPS (S-EPS), loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS), and tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS). Maximum EPS production was obtained when the cultivation time, temperature, and pH value were 24 h, 30 °C, and 8.0, respectively. The main components of EPS were proteins, polysaccharides, and nucleic acids, but the different EPS types contained different proportions and specific components. The Pb2+ adsorption capacity of LB-EPS was 2.23 and 1.50 times higher than that of S-EPS and TB-EPS, respectively. After Pb2+ adsorption by LB-EPS, the pH value of the reaction system decreased to the lowest of 5.23, which indicated that LB-EPS contained more functional groups that could release H+, which will help to better adsorb Pb2+ through ion exchange. The three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (3D-EEM) analysis showed that the fluorescence intensity of tryptophan-containing substances decreased by 85.5% after Pb2+ adsorption by LB-EPS, which indicated the complexation of tryptophan-containing substances with Pb2+. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) O spectra indicated that the C=O peak from protein amide I of tryptophan-containing substances in LB-EPS was mainly responsible for the complexation of Pb2+. After the adsorption of Pb2+, the proportion of the C=O peak in LB-EPS increased by 33.89%, indicating that the complexation of LB-EPS with Pb2+ was mainly attributed to the O atom in the C=O terminus of protein amide I.