Exopolysaccharide Production From Nostoc sp. Under Different Nutritional Conditions

In the last decades, biotechnological applications have led to the optimization of the cultural conditions for the production of exopolysaccharides (EPSs) by cyanobacteria. Nostoc is a genus of cyanobacteria found in various environments that forms colonies composed of filaments of moniliform cells in a gelatinous sheath. The effect of some important nutritional and growth beside iron nanoparticles on production by Nostoc sp. was studied. Optimization of the cultural conditions was carried out using Central Composite Design (CCD), and it was achieved at pH 8.39, 1% of NaCl and 0.8 g.l-1 nitrate based in modified BG0 medium and more than 12 g.l-1 of EPS was obtained by phenol-sulphuric acid method. The present research investigated the possibility of inducing EPS production in the presence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles from optimized microalga cultures. This study revealed that Nostoc sp. treatment with 10 mg.l-1 Fe3O4 NPs induced maximal EPS production (4 µg.ml-1).