Morphological Variation of Enterobacter sp. BL-2 in Acetate-mediated pH Environment for Excretive Production of Cationic Microbial Polyglucosamine Biopolymer

Enterobacter sp. BL-2 excretively produced a unique cationic polyglucosamine biopolymer PGB-1 comprised of more than 95% D-glucosamine in an acetate-mediated culture condition. The excretion of the biopolymer PGB-1 was closely associated with the cellular morphology of Enterobacter sp. BL-2, a feature highly dependable on the pH of the medium. The initially formed uneven and irregular surface cells were aggregated into the cell-biopolymer network structure connected by the adhesion modules of the cell-bound biopolymer. The excretive production of the biopolymer PGB-1 coincided with the disruption of the cell-biopolymer network, most actively at the medium pH of 8.0.