Influence of culture conditions on extracellular polysaccharide production and the activities of enzymes involved in the polysaccharide synthesis of Nostoc flagelliforme

Culture conditions significantly influence extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) production of Nostoc flagelliforme, however, the key enzyme controlling EPS synthesis has not been fully explored yet. The influence of different culture conditions including light quality, carbon source and nitrogen source on EPS production of N. flagelliforme and activities of EPS synthesis enzymes was investigated. Three experimental groups produced higher amounts of EPS than the control group, including the carbon source group with 1.26 g L−1 NaHCO3, the nitrogen source group with 0 g L−1 NaNO3 and the light quality group with blue light. Activities of seven related enzymes phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI), fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase), UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (UGPase), UDP-galactose-4-epimerase (UGE), UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH), phosphomannose isomerase (PMI), and phosphofructokinase (PFK) were significantly influenced by culture conditions. Partial least-squares analysis and correlation analysis methods were used to analyze the relationship between the activities of these enzymes and EPS production, and a correlation between the production of EPS and the activities of PGI, PMI, FBPase, UGDH, and UGPase was found under different culture conditions. Subsequent analysis of the transcription level of genes encoding the five enzymes showed genes pgi and fbp1 in three experimental groups were significantly up regulated. The results revealed PGI and FBPase might be important enzymes positively influencing the biosynthesis of N. flagelliforme EPS. The findings would be helpful to further understand the pathway of EPS biosynthesis aimed to improve the EPS production of N. flagelliforme.