[Self-aggregation property of bacterial alginates extracted from aerobic granules]

To explore bacterial alginates role in aerobic granules' formation, the alginate was extracted from aerobic granules and identified. Its aggregation property in 50 mg x L(-1) CaCl2 solution was investigated by the atomic force microscopy (AFM). Bacterial alginates amounted to 35.1% +/- 1.9% of granules' dry mass. With the concentration increased from 10 mg x L(-1) to 500 mg x L(-1) in 50 mg x L(-1) CaCl2, the extracted alginates tended to form ordered aggregations, with the shape changed from randomly distributed globules, to rod-like and flower-shaped aggregations, and finally to weblike networks due to their supramolecular self-assembly property. The three dimensional alginate-metal gel is the structural polymer of aerobic granules, and the alginates-Ca2+ gel formation plays an important role in granules' formation and structure stabilization.