Recent advances in glycobiotechnology show that bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPS) presenting glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-like properties can provide a valuable source of bio-active macromolecules for industrial applications. The HE800 EPS, named diabolican, is a marine-derived anionic high-molecular-weight polysaccharide produced by Vibrio diabolicus CNCM I-1629 which displays original structural features close to those of hyaluronic acid. We investigated the impact of carbon and nitrogen substrates on both Vibrio diabolicus growth and diabolican production. Both substrates were screened by a one-factor-at-a-time method, and experimental designs were used to study the effect of glucose, mannitol, and ammonium acetate various concentrations. Results showed that the medium composition affected not only the bacterium growth and EPS yield, but also the EPS molecular weight (MW). EPS yields of 563 and 330 mg L-1 were obtained in the presence of 69.3 g L-1 glucose and 24.6 g L-1 mannitol, respectively, both for 116.6 mM ammonium acetate. MW was the highest, with 69.3 g L-1 glucose and 101.9 mM ammonium acetate (2.3 × 106 g mol-1). In parallel, the bacterial maximum specific growth rate was higher when both carbon and nitrogen substrate concentrations were low. This work paves the way for the optimization of marine exopolysaccharide production of great interest in the fields of human health and cosmetics.
Keywords: central composite design; exopolysaccharide; marine bacterium; molecular weight; production; yield.