title: Enhanced bacterial affinity of PVDF membrane: its application as improved sea water sampling tool for environmental monitoring.
abstract: Isolation of diversified bacteria from seawater is a major challenge in the field of environmental microbiology. In the present study, an attempt has been made to select specific membrane with improved property of attaching diversified bacteria. Initially, different concentrations (15, 18, and 20% W/W) of polysulfone (PSF) were used to check their affinity for the attachment of selected gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. Among these, 20% W/W PSF showed maximum attachment. Therefore, membrane prepared with other materials such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polyether sulfone (PES) were used with the same concentration (20% W/W) to check their improved bacterial attachment property. Comparative study of bacterial attachment on three different membranes revealed that PVDF possessed the highest affinity towards both the groups of bacteria. This property was confirmed by different analytical methods viz. contact angle, atomic force microscopy, zeta potential, and flux study and further validated with seawater samples collected from seven sites of western coast and Lakshadweep island of India, using Biolog EcoPlate™. All the samples showed that bacterial richness and diversity was high in PVDF membrane in comparison to surrounding seawater samples. Interestingly, affinity for more diversified bacteria was reported to be higher in water sample with less turbidity and low bacteria load. This finding can facilitate the development of PVDF (20% W/W) membrane as a simple, cheap, and less labor intensive environmental sampling tool for the isolation of diversified bacteria from seawater sample wih different physiochemical properties. Graphical abstract ᅟ.
authors.affiliation: Marine Biotechnology and Ecology Division, CSIR-CSMCRI, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar, 364002, India.|Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, CSIR-CSMCRI, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar, 364002, India.
authors.forename: Sweta Binod
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Marine Biotechnology and Ecology Division, CSIR-CSMCRI, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar, 364002, India.
authors.forename: Preeti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sharnagat
authors.affiliation: Reverse Osmosis Division, CSIR-CSMCRI, Bhavnagar, 364002, India.
authors.forename: Paramita
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Manna
authors.affiliation: Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, CSIR-CSMCRI, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar, 364002, India.|Reverse Osmosis Division, CSIR-CSMCRI, Bhavnagar, 364002, India.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.affiliation: Marine Biotechnology and Ecology Division, CSIR-CSMCRI, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar, 364002, India. shaldar@csmcri.org.|Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, CSIR-CSMCRI, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar, 364002, India. shaldar@csmcri.org.
authors.forename: Soumya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haldar
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D007194:India; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011108:Polymers; D011145:Polyvinyls; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology; D013450:Sulfones; D014871:Water Microbiology; D005465:Fluorocarbon Polymers
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011108:Polymers; D011145:Polyvinyls; D013450:Sulfones; C024865:polyvinylidene fluoride; D005465:Fluorocarbon Polymers; C017662:polysulfone P 1700; C022840:polyether sulfone
keywords: Bacterial attachment; Bacterial diversity; Biolog EcoPlate™; PVDF; Sampling tool; Seawater