Characterisation of a novel metal-containing “glyco-protein/polypeptide-organochlorine” bioflocculant produced from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain F29 isolated from pig fecal matter collected from a mixed animal farm in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Antibiotic resistance has reached global proportions, and the discovery of effective alternatives to the common antibiotics in current use, could aid in solving this problem. The aim of this study was to characterise a bioflocculant produced from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain F29, accession number OQ734844, that possessed 69% flocculating activity, and that had been observed to demonstrate biocontrol activity against Staphylococcus aureus SO183 at concentrations of 0.090 g/L and 0.150 g/L, and against identified Pseudomonas aeruginosa , at a concentration of 0.150 g/L. Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain F29, was isolated from pig fecal matter collected from a mixed animal farm in Ibadan, Nigeria via the pour plate method, identified through biochemical tests and confirmed through molecular studies. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of the bioflocculant, revealed the presence of carboxyl, amide/peptide, aromatic alcohol, alkene, halo and polysulfide functional groups. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed a clumped and flaky bioflocculant surface, while energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) revealed the presence of chlorine (56.00%), carbon (20.50%), sodium (12.50%), oxygen (4.00%), phosphorus (3.00%), sulphur (2.43%) magnesium (1.06%), potassium (0.32%) and nitrogen (0.30%). High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS) revealed that the bioflocculant possessed varied peaks of glucose, galactose, inositol and mannose, D-ribose, arabinose, rhamnose and xylose. The phenol sulfuric acid method revealed that the concentration of these sugars was 0.0059 g/L. The bioflocculant was a metal-containing polymeric compound composed mainly of carbohydrates, proteins/polypeptides and organochlorines, possibly a metal-containing “glyco-protein/polypeptide organochlorine.” From available documentation, this is the first report of this type of bioflocculant.