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Background: The Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is one of the largest families in terms of species representation in the plant kingdom. It is also a prominent family in the field of phytochemicals and pharmacology. The family is also quite prominent in the production of spices and condiments and food supplements in nutrition, aside from the potential of species in the family to induce apoptotic, antimicrobial, antitumor, and hepatoprotective activities., Objective: This work presents a detailed structural elucidation and functional aspects of phytochemicals from the Apiaceae or Umbelliferae family., Methods: Furthermore, the application of members of this family in traditional and modern pharmacology is emphasized. This review also highlights the linkage of phytochemicals used in the conventional system of medication for the development of novel therapeutics through a chain of pre-clinical and clinical trials., Conclusion: This study may represent a valuable step ahead in the clinical development of natural drugs for curing several ailments, including respiratory and virus-related diseases., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

A bacterial strain was isolated from an oil-contaminated site and on its' further characterization, exhibited the potential of synthesising metabolites and the ability to degrade crude oil. Its' morphological, biochemical and 16S rRNA analysis suggested that the bacterium belongs to Dietzia maris AURCCBT01. This strain rapidly grew in the medium supplemented with n- alkanes C14, C18, C20, C28 and C32 utilizing them as a sole carbon source and produced a maximum canthaxanthin pigment of 971.37 µg/L in the n- C14 supplemented medium and produced the lowest pigment yield of 389.48 µg/L in the n- C-32 supplemented medium. Moreover, the strain effectively degraded 91.87% of crude oil in 7 days. The emulsification activity of the strain was 25% with the highest cell surface hydrophobicity (70.26%) and it showed a decrease in surface tension, indicating that the biosurfactant production lowers the surface tension. This is the first report on the characterization of the strain, Dietzia maris AURCCBT01 and its' novelty of alkane degradation and simultaneous production of canthaxanthin pigment., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-021-02807-7., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestAuthors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (© King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2021.)

Aim: Nano-biotechnologically synthesizing silver nanoparticles via canthaxanthin pigment extracted from Dietzia maris AURCCBT01 and assessing their cytotoxic therapeutic potential against human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) were the key objectives of this study., Methods and Results: The pigment extracted from D. maris AURCCBT01 was identified as canthaxanthin using UV-VIS spectroscopy, FTIR, NMR ( 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR) and MS. Canthaxanthin, treated with silver nitrate solution, produced canthaxanthin-mediated silver nanoparticles and they were characterized by UV-VIS spectroscopy, FTIR, XRD, FESEM-EDX and TEM-SAED techniques. UV-VIS spectroscopy pointed out an absorption band at 420 nm, relating to the surface plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles. FTIR findings suggested that the diverse functional groups of canthaxanthin bio-molecules played a significant task in capping the silver nanoparticles. XRD analysis exhibited 40·20 nm for the crystal size of nanoparticles. FESEM and TEM exhibited that the biosynthesized silver nanoparticles were spherical in shape with crystalline nature and the particle size was 40-50 nm. Moreover, the cytotoxicity assessment of the synthesized nanoparticles in HaCaT revealed significant cytotoxicity in the cultured cells with an IC 50 value of 43 µg ml -1 ., Conclusion: Stable silver nanoparticles synthesized using canthaxanthin from D. maris AURCCBT01 were found effective for application in wound healing activity., Significance and Impact of the Study: Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles via canthaxanthin bacterial pigment exhibited their cytotoxicity effect in HaCaT and testified their eventual therapeutic potential in the wound healing activity with no side effects in a cost effective and eco-friendly process., (© 2020 The Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Synthetic pigments/non-renewable coloring sources used normally in the textile industry release toxic substances into the environment, causing perilous ecological challenges. To be safer from such challenges of synthetic colorants, academia and industries have explored the use of natural colorants such as microbial pigments. Such explorations have created a fervent interest among textile stakeholders to undertake the dyeing of textile fabrics, especially with fungal pigments. The biodegradable and sustainable production of natural colorants from fungal sources stand as being comparatively advantageous to synthetic dyes. The prospective scope of fungal pigments has emerged in the opening of many new avenues in textile colorants for wide ranging applications. Applying the biotechnological processes, fungal pigments like carotenoids, melanins, flavins, phenazines, quinones, monascins, violacein, indigo, etc. could be extracted on an industrial scale. This review appraises the studies and applications of various fungal pigments in dyeing textile fabrics and is furthermore shedding light on the importance of toxicity testing, genetic manipulations of fungal pigments, and their future perspectives under biotechnological approaches., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

This study is aimed to determine the distribution, diversity and bioprospecting aspects of marine pigmented bacteria (MPB) isolated from pristine Andaman Islands, India. A total of 180 samples including seawater, sediment, marine plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates were collected and investigated for isolating pigmented bacteria. Results revealed that sediment, invertebrates, and seawater samples were colonized with a greater number of pigmented bacteria pertains to 27.9 × 10 3 CFU/mL, 24.1 × 10 3 CFU/mL and 6.7 × 10 3 CFU/mL respectively. Orange (21.6 × 10 3 CFU/mL) and red (8.0 × 10 3 CFU/mL) MPB were predominant than other pigmented bacteria. Fourteen potential MPB were selected based on their intense pigmentation and tested for bioactive nature and food colorant applications. Out of 14, two red pigmented strains BSE6.1 & S2.1 displayed potential multifaceted applications, such as antibacterial, antioxidant, food colorant, and staining properties. Brown pigmented strains CO8 and yellow pigmented strain SQ2.3 have displayed staining properties. Chemical characterization of red pigment using TLC, HP-LC, GC-MS, FT-IR and 1 H-NMR analysis revealed prodigiosin as a main chemical constituent. Pure form of prodigiosin compound fractions obtained from both the strains displayed effective antibacterial activity against different human pathogens. MIC and MBC assays revealed that S2.1 requires 300 µg and 150 µg, respectively, and BSE6.1 require 400 µg concentrations of pigment compound for complete inhibition of S. aureus subsp. aureus. On the basis of 16S rRNA sequence analysis, strains S2.1 and BSE6.1 were identified as Zooshikella sp. and Streptomyces sp. and assigned under the GenBank accession numbers: MK680108 and MK951781 respectively., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Microbial oddities such as versatile pigments are gaining more attention in current research due to their widely perceived applications as natural food colorants, textiles, antimicrobial activities, and cytotoxic activities. This indicates that the future generation will depend on microbial pigments over synthetic colorants for sustainable livelihood. Although several reviews have detailed the comprehensive applications of microbial pigments extensively, knowledge on several aspects of pigmented microbes is apparently missing and not properly reviewed anywhere. Thus, this review has been made to provide overall knowledge on biodiversity, distribution, pathogenicity, and ecological and industrial applications of microbial pigments as well as their challenges and future directions for food, industrial, and biomedical applications. Meticulously, this compendious review treatise on the pigments from bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and microalgae includes reports from the 1970s to 2018. A total of 261 pigment compounds produced by about 500 different microbial species are included, and their bioactive nature is described., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Violacein, violet pigment produced by Chromobacterium violaceum, has attracted much attention recently due to its pharmacological properties including antibacterial activity. The present study investigated possible antibacterial mode of action of violacein from C. violaceum UTM5 against Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains. Violet fraction was obtained by cultivating C. violaceum UTM5 in liquid pineapple waste medium, extracted, and fractionated using ethyl acetate and vacuum liquid chromatography technique. Violacein was quantified as major compound in violet fraction using HPLC analysis. Violet fraction displayed bacteriostatic activity against S. aureus ATCC 29213 and methicillin-resistant S. aureus ATCC 43300 with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 3.9 μg/mL. Fluorescence dyes for membrane damage and scanning electron microscopic analysis confirmed the inhibitory effect by disruption on membrane integrity, morphological alternations, and rupture of the cell membranes of both strains. Transmission electron microscopic analysis showed membrane damage, mesosome formation, and leakage of intracellular constituents of both bacterial strains. Mode of action of violet fraction on the cell membrane integrity of both strains was shown by release of protein, K + , and extracellular adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) with 110.5 μg/mL, 2.34 μg/mL, and 87.24 ng/μL, respectively, at 48 h of incubation. Violet fraction was toxic to human embryonic kidney (HEK293) and human fetal lung fibroblast (IMR90) cell lines with LC 50 value of 0.998 ± 0.058 and 0.387 ± 0.002 μg/mL, respectively. Thus, violet fraction showed a strong antibacterial property by disrupting the membrane integrity of S. aureus and MRSA strains. This is the first report on the possible mode of antibacterial action of violet fraction from C. violaceum UTM5 on S. aureus and MRSA strains.

In this work, the synthesis of silver nanoparticles from a pigment produced by a recently-discovered bacterium, Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497, was achieved, followed by an investigation of its anticancer properties. The bacterial pigment was identified as flexirubin following NMR ((1)H NMR and (13)C NMR), UV-Vis, and LC-MS analysis. An aqueous silver nitrate solution was treated with isolated flexirubin to produce silver nanoparticles. The synthesised silver nanoparticles were subsequently characterised by UV-Vis spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy methodologies. Furthermore, the anticancer effects of synthesised silver nanoparticles in a human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) were evaluated. The tests showed significant cytotoxicity activity of the silver nanoparticles in the cultured cells, with an IC50 value of 36μgmL(-1). This study demonstrates that silver nanoparticles, synthesised from flexirubin from C. artocarpi CECT 8497, may have potential as a novel chemotherapeutic agent., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Flexirubins are the unique type of bacterial pigments produced by the bacteria from the genus Chryseobacterium, which are used in the treatment of chronic skin disease, eczema etc. and may serve as a chemotaxonomic marker. Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497, an yellowish-orange pigment producing strain was investigated for maximum production of pigment by optimizing medium composition employing response surface methodology (RSM). Culture conditions affecting pigment production were optimized statistically in shake flask experiments. Lactose, l-tryptophan and KH2PO4 were the most significant variables affecting pigment production. Box Behnken design (BBD) and RSM analysis were adopted to investigate the interactions between variables and determine the optimal values for maximum pigment production. Evaluation of the experimental results signified that the optimum conditions for maximum production of pigment (521.64 mg/L) in 50 L bioreactor were lactose 11.25 g/L, l-tryptophan 6 g/L and KH2PO4 650 ppm. Production under optimized conditions increased to 7.23 fold comparing to its production prior to optimization. Results of this study showed that statistical optimization of medium composition and their interaction effects enable short listing of the significant factors influencing maximum pigment production from Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497. In addition, this is the first report optimizing the process parameters for flexirubin type pigment production from Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497.