Carbohydrate Binding Macromolecules in Intraspecific Marine Microbial Associations

High molecular weight exudates that enhance the adhesion of the marine Chlorella vulgaris Beij. to glass have been isolated directly from the culture media of this micro alga and marine bacterial strains by immunoaffinity chromatography. These materials significantly increase the adhesion of Chlorella at concentrations of 10^-18 g/cell. The adhesion activity of exudate antigen isolated from Chlorella media and the media of a bacterial strain closely associated with this algal cell in nature is not inhibited in the presence of D(+) mannose while exudate antigens recovered from the media of bacterial strains not associated with this micro algae are inhibited by mannose. The relationship between these differences in sugar specificity and micro algal bacterial surface interactions is discussed.