Production and characterization of exopolysaccharides (EPS) from mangrove filamentous fungus, Syncephalastrum sp.

In this study, the production and characterization of exopolysaccharide from Syncephalastrum sp. was carried out. This is the i¬rst report on the production of exopolysaccharides from Syncephalastrum sp. Totally, four different fungi (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium expansum and Syncephalastrum sp.) were screened for exopolysaccharide production. Among these, maximum polysaccharide producing species was selected for further large scale production. Different concentrations (6, 8 and 10%) of sucrose were also used to increase polysaccharide production. Overall results depicted that 8% of sucrose concentration exhibited higher amount of polysaccharide production.  Further, structure of polysaccachride was confirmed by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. Based on this spectroscopy results, the polysaccharide produced by Syncephalastrum sp. was 3 linked β-D-galactopyronosyl units. The polysaccharide produced by this species composed of galactose as predominant monosccharides in the cell wall of Syncephalastrum sp. and their idealized structures were established.   Key words: Exopolysaccharide, mangroves, filamentous fungi, Syncephalstrum, β-D-galactopyronosyl.