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Role of Cyanobacterial Exopolysaccharides in Phototrophic Biofilms and in Complex Microbial Mats

Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are an important class of biopolymers with great ecological importance. In natural environments, they are a common feature of microbial biofilms, where they play key protective and structural roles. As the primary colonizers of constrained environments, such as desert soils...

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Autores principales: Rossi, Federico, De Philippis, Roberto
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500136/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25837843
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life5021218
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author Rossi, Federico
De Philippis, Roberto
author_facet Rossi, Federico
De Philippis, Roberto
author_sort Rossi, Federico
collection PubMed
description Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are an important class of biopolymers with great ecological importance. In natural environments, they are a common feature of microbial biofilms, where they play key protective and structural roles. As the primary colonizers of constrained environments, such as desert soils and lithic and exposed substrates, cyanobacteria are the first contributors to the synthesis of the EPSs constituting the extracellular polymeric matrix that favors the formation of microbial associations with varying levels of complexity called biofilms. Cyanobacterial colonization represents the first step for the formation of biofilms with different levels of complexity. In all of the possible systems in which cyanobacteria are involved, the synthesis of EPSs contributes a structurally-stable and hydrated microenvironment, as well as chemical/physical protection against biotic and abiotic stress factors. Notwithstanding the important roles of cyanobacterial EPSs, many aspects related to their roles and the relative elicited biotic and abiotic factors have still to be clarified. The aim of this survey is to outline the state-of-the-art of the importance of the cyanobacterial EPS excretion, both for the producing cells and for the microbial associations in which cyanobacteria are a key component.
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spelling pubmed-45001362015-07-13 Role of Cyanobacterial Exopolysaccharides in Phototrophic Biofilms and in Complex Microbial Mats Rossi, Federico De Philippis, Roberto Life (Basel) Review Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are an important class of biopolymers with great ecological importance. In natural environments, they are a common feature of microbial biofilms, where they play key protective and structural roles. As the primary colonizers of constrained environments, such as desert soils and lithic and exposed substrates, cyanobacteria are the first contributors to the synthesis of the EPSs constituting the extracellular polymeric matrix that favors the formation of microbial associations with varying levels of complexity called biofilms. Cyanobacterial colonization represents the first step for the formation of biofilms with different levels of complexity. In all of the possible systems in which cyanobacteria are involved, the synthesis of EPSs contributes a structurally-stable and hydrated microenvironment, as well as chemical/physical protection against biotic and abiotic stress factors. Notwithstanding the important roles of cyanobacterial EPSs, many aspects related to their roles and the relative elicited biotic and abiotic factors have still to be clarified. The aim of this survey is to outline the state-of-the-art of the importance of the cyanobacterial EPS excretion, both for the producing cells and for the microbial associations in which cyanobacteria are a key component. MDPI 2015-04-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4500136/ /pubmed/25837843 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life5021218 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Rossi, Federico
De Philippis, Roberto
Role of Cyanobacterial Exopolysaccharides in Phototrophic Biofilms and in Complex Microbial Mats
title Role of Cyanobacterial Exopolysaccharides in Phototrophic Biofilms and in Complex Microbial Mats
title_full Role of Cyanobacterial Exopolysaccharides in Phototrophic Biofilms and in Complex Microbial Mats
title_fullStr Role of Cyanobacterial Exopolysaccharides in Phototrophic Biofilms and in Complex Microbial Mats
title_full_unstemmed Role of Cyanobacterial Exopolysaccharides in Phototrophic Biofilms and in Complex Microbial Mats
title_short Role of Cyanobacterial Exopolysaccharides in Phototrophic Biofilms and in Complex Microbial Mats
title_sort role of cyanobacterial exopolysaccharides in phototrophic biofilms and in complex microbial mats
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500136/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25837843
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life5021218
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