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

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Extracellular polymeric substances; Heavy metals; Soil microbial communities; Soil organic matter.