Exploiting the commons: Cyclic diguanylate regulation of bacterial exopolysaccharide production

Abstract

Nowadays, there is increasing interest for bacterial polysaccharides in a wide variety of industrial sectors. This is due to their chemical and reological properties, and also the possibility to be obtained by fermentation processes. Biosynthesis of a growing number of exopolysaccharides (EPS) has been reported to be regulated by the ubiquitous second messenger c-di-GMP in a limited number of bacterial species. Since most bacteria are yet unexplored, it is likely that an unsuspected number and variety of EPS structures activated by c-di-GMP await to be uncovered. In the search of new EPS, manipulation of bacterial c-di-GMP metabolism can be combined with high throughput approaches for screening of large collections of bacteria. In addition, c-di-GMP activation of EPS production and promotion of cell aggregation may have direct applications in environmental industries related with biofuel production or wastewater treatments.Work at the author’s laboratory was supported by grants BIO2011-23032 and BIO2014-55075-P (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain; cofinanced with FEDER funds), and grant CSIC 201440E026. DPM was supported by Andalucía Talent Hub Program launched by the Andalusian Knowledge Agency, co-funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (COFUND — Grant Agreement n8 291780) and the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Junta de Andalucía. A.M. Matia-González is gratefully acknowledged for critical comments on the manuscript.Peer Reviewe