Summary
A combination of ultrasonication at 18 W for 10 min and centrifugation at 33,000 g for 60 min was found to achieve the highest recovery of extracellular polymer fromKlebsiella aerogenes, NCTC 8172, allowing both soluble and colloidal phases to be separated. Estimates of the total polymer present, made by gravimetry and by acid hydrolysis, indicated that polymer production was greater in continuous culture than in batch culture, and increased in continuous culture as the dilution rate decreased from 0.5 h−1 to 0.01 h−1. Extraction of polymer from these cultures varied in efficiency; up to 73% of the total polymer was extracted at low dilution rates where the colloidal form of polymer was predominant, but only 22% was extracted at high dilution rates where the majority of the polymer was in the soluble phase. Consequently, this extraction method was considered to be unsuitable as a quantitative measure of polymer production.
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Rudd, T., Sterritt, R.M. & Lester, J.N. The use of extraction methods for the quantification of extracellular polymer production byKlebsiella aerogenes under varying cultural conditions. European J. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 16, 23–27 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01008238
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01008238