22
D. Dasgupta Mandal et al.
thus can be thought of an alternative nutrient source. The extracted pigment characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy (ň max = 535 nm), TLC (R f = 0.9), HPLC
(RT = 2.865), FTIR and NMR confirmed it as prodigiosin. The kinetic parameters of Luedeking–Piret model for pigment production in different fatty acid media
revealed growth-associated production.
Keywords Prodigiosin · Fatty acid · Peanut powder · Peanut oil · Palm oil
1 Introduction
Secondary metabolites of bacterial origin are of great importance to mankind in
many ways, which include various pigments, enzymes, antibiotics and many other
valuables. Prodigiosin, a bright red pigment produced by several bacterial species
such as Serratia, Pseudomonas and Streptomyces (Giri et al. 2004) is one of the most
conspicuous bacterial pigments extant in the microbial world (Venil et al. 2013).
The attention on prodigiosin increased when different studies certified it to possess
anti-bacterial, anti-malarial, anti-oxidant and anti-neoplastic properties (Darshan and
Manonmani 2015). It has gained much research attention among microbial pigments
because of its good thermostability and bright colour (Ren et al. 2018). However,
one of the major constraints in pigment production from bacterial cells is the high
cost of synthetic medium used (Venil et al. 2013). This limitation along with the
parallel high-potential commercial value of prodigiosin has kindled the demand of
cost-effective bioprocesses for this biopigment. From different studies, fatty acids
as carbon source such as peanut, sesame, sunflower, and so on have shown their
potential in enhancing prodigiosin production by bacterial species not only in their
powdered forms but also through extracted oils (Giri et al. 2004). These oil sources
are, however, costly that lead to the usage of cheap fatty acid sources in demand
to enhance prodigiosin production with minimum production cost. Palm oil is such
a low-cost oil source that contains 50% of saturated fatty acids (Montoya et al.
2014) and may prove its potential as a cost-effective carbon source for prodigiosin
production.
In the present study, Serratia marcescens NITDPER1 (GenBank accession
number MN380036), an indigenous bacterial strain isolated in our laboratory from
paper mill effluent was explored for prodigiosin production using conventional
synthetic media as well as different fatty acid sources to compare maximum pigment
production. The extracted reddish-pink pigment was characterized to ascertain its
nature as prodigiosin. The kinetic parameters of growth and pigment production
were analysed to relate growth associatedness of the process. This study aimed at
an alternate low-cost source of nutrition for S. marcescens NITDPER1 for improved
prodigiosin production from economic perspective and commercial use.
D. Dasgupta Mandal et al.
thus can be thought of an alternative nutrient source. The extracted pigment characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy (ň max = 535 nm), TLC (R f = 0.9), HPLC
(RT = 2.865), FTIR and NMR confirmed it as prodigiosin. The kinetic parameters of Luedeking–Piret model for pigment production in different fatty acid media
revealed growth-associated production.
Keywords Prodigiosin · Fatty acid · Peanut powder · Peanut oil · Palm oil
1 Introduction
Secondary metabolites of bacterial origin are of great importance to mankind in
many ways, which include various pigments, enzymes, antibiotics and many other
valuables. Prodigiosin, a bright red pigment produced by several bacterial species
such as Serratia, Pseudomonas and Streptomyces (Giri et al. 2004) is one of the most
conspicuous bacterial pigments extant in the microbial world (Venil et al. 2013).
The attention on prodigiosin increased when different studies certified it to possess
anti-bacterial, anti-malarial, anti-oxidant and anti-neoplastic properties (Darshan and
Manonmani 2015). It has gained much research attention among microbial pigments
because of its good thermostability and bright colour (Ren et al. 2018). However,
one of the major constraints in pigment production from bacterial cells is the high
cost of synthetic medium used (Venil et al. 2013). This limitation along with the
parallel high-potential commercial value of prodigiosin has kindled the demand of
cost-effective bioprocesses for this biopigment. From different studies, fatty acids
as carbon source such as peanut, sesame, sunflower, and so on have shown their
potential in enhancing prodigiosin production by bacterial species not only in their
powdered forms but also through extracted oils (Giri et al. 2004). These oil sources
are, however, costly that lead to the usage of cheap fatty acid sources in demand
to enhance prodigiosin production with minimum production cost. Palm oil is such
a low-cost oil source that contains 50% of saturated fatty acids (Montoya et al.
2014) and may prove its potential as a cost-effective carbon source for prodigiosin
production.
In the present study, Serratia marcescens NITDPER1 (GenBank accession
number MN380036), an indigenous bacterial strain isolated in our laboratory from
paper mill effluent was explored for prodigiosin production using conventional
synthetic media as well as different fatty acid sources to compare maximum pigment
production. The extracted reddish-pink pigment was characterized to ascertain its
nature as prodigiosin. The kinetic parameters of growth and pigment production
were analysed to relate growth associatedness of the process. This study aimed at
an alternate low-cost source of nutrition for S. marcescens NITDPER1 for improved
prodigiosin production from economic perspective and commercial use.