Simple method for quantification of anionic biosurfactants in aqueous solutions

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Gabriele Sass¹  David A. Stevens²  Eric Déziel³  Marie-Christine Groleau³ 

[1] California Institute for Medical Research, San Jose, CA, United States;California Institute for Medical Research, San Jose, CA, United States;Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States;Institut National de la Recherche Scientific-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, Laval, QC, Canada;

关键词: biosurfactant;    quantification;    assay;    rhamnolipids;    Pseudomonas;    Burkholderia;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fbioe.2023.1253652

 received in 2023-07-05, accepted in 2023-09-13,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Biosurfactants are microbial products that have applications as cleaning agents, emulsifiers, and dispersants. Detection and quantification of biosurfactants can be done by various methods, including colorimetric tests, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to several types of detectors, and tests that take advantage of biosurfactants reducing surface tension of aqueous liquids, allowing for spreading and droplet formation of oils. We present a new and simple method for quantifying biosurfactants by their ability, on paper, to reduce surface tension of aqueous solutions, causing droplet dispersion on an oiled surface in correlation with biosurfactant content. We validated this method with rhamnolipids, surfactin, sophorolipids, and ananatoside B; all are anionic microbial surfactants. Linear ranges for quantification in aqueous solutions for all tested biosurfactants were between 10 and 500 µM. Our method showed time-dependent biosurfactant accumulation in cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains PA14 and PAO1, and Burkholderia thailandensis E264. Mutants in genes responsible for surfactant production showed negligible activity on oiled paper. In summary, our simple assay provides the opportunity to quantify biosurfactant contents of aqueous solutions, for a diversity of surfactants, by means readily available in any laboratory.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Sass, Groleau, Déziel and Stevens.