Reinvestigating the Composition of Alginate-Like Exopolymers Extracted from Activated Sludge

Over the past decade, a significant amount of research work on extracellular polymeric substances has been done on the "alginate-like exopolysaccharides" (ALE, also called "alginate-like exopolymers"). The term was used based on the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) biopolymer identification test. Although various chemical analyses have been conducted to characterize extracted ALE, it remained unclear whether ALE contains the two sugar monomers of alginates. Aiming to obtain a direct answer to the question: are there alginates in the ALE extracted from sludge, activated sludge was collected from two wastewater treatment plants in two different countries, where the ALE was previously extracted, characterized, and reported in the literature. The extracellular polymers were extracted from these sludges and fractionated according to the standard protocol. The sugar monomer composition of each fraction was analyzed, with special attention to the presence of mannuronic acid (M) and guluronic acid (G), which compose alginate biopolymers. None of these monomers were found in the extracted EPS, indicating there are no alginates resembling polymers extracted from the sludges. The possibility of the presence of other glycan components, such as lipopolysaccharides in EPS, was investigated and confirmed.