ZnO nanoparticles induced exopolysaccharide productionby B. subtilis strain JCT1 for arid soil applications

Abstract

tZnO nanoparticle induced exopolysaccharide (EPS) production from Bacillus subtilis strain JCT1 (NCBIGenBank Accession No. JN194187) is a novel approach for arid soil applications. In the series of inves-tigations, environmentally benign protocol was followed for the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles usingextracellular enzymes obtained from Aspergillus fumigatus TFR8. Putative characterization techniqueswere employed for confirmation of size, shape, surface structure, crystalline nature and elemental pro-portion of ZnO nanoparticles. Results established an average size of ZnO nanoparticles to be 2.9 nm atleast at one dimension and oblate spherical in structure. The qualitative composition of the nanoparticlesexhibited 97.5% Zn element atom percentage. Biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles enhanced exopolysac-charide production by 596.1% as compared to control and further EPS amelioration led to enhancedsoil aggregation (up to 82%), moisture retention (10.7–14.2%) and soil organic carbon. Soil aggre-gation stability was further confirmed by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy. A possible ZnOnanoparticle mediated biological mechanism for enhancing exopolysaccharide production has beendiscussed.