Exopolysaccharide Production from Marine-Derived Brevundimonas huaxiensis Obtained from Estremadura Spur Pockmarks Sediments Revealing Potential for Circular Economy

Marine environments represent an enormous biodiversity reservoir due to their numerous different habitats, being abundant in microorganisms capable of producing biomolecules, namely exopolysaccharides (EPS), with unique physical characteristics and applications in a broad range of industrial sectors. From a total of 67 marine-derived bacteria obtained from marine sediments collected at depths of 200 to 350 m from the Estremadura Spur pockmarks field, off the coast of Continental Portugal, the Brevundimonas huaxiensis strain SPUR-41 was selected to be cultivated in a bioreactor with saline culture media and glucose as a carbon source. The bacterium exhibited the capacity to produce 1.83 g/L of EPS under saline conditions. SPUR-41 EPS was a heteropolysaccharide composed of mannose (62.55% mol), glucose (9.19% mol), rhamnose (19.41% mol), glucuronic acid (4.43% mol), galactose (2.53% mol), and galacturonic acid (1.89% mol). Moreover, SPUR-41 EPS also revealed acyl groups in its composition, namely acetyl, succinyl, and pyruvyl. This study revealed the importance of research on marine environments for the discovery of bacteria that produce new value-added biopolymers for pharmaceutical and other biotechnological applications, enabling us to potentially address saline effluent pollution via a sustainable circular economy.