Search

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. Method: 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.

Currently, the chemically synthesized carotenoid pigments, fulfill the needs of the consumers and industries. However, owing to their toxic effects, the use of such chemical oriented pigment products have limitations by restrictions of usage; and such restrictions have necessitated finding ecofriendly alternative pigments. By the way, bacteria, fungi and plants are the prospective alternative natural resources for the production of pigments, similar to carotenoids. Carotenoids are natural pigments that are used widely in nutraceutical, food and pharma industries. Lately, the biological production of carotenoids from microbes has been receiving greater attention and in this aspect, the studies on bacterial sources are emerging proportionally. During a screening process of pigmented strains, the bacterial strain, Dietzia maris AURCCBT01 was isolated and on further study found it to be a producer of canthaxanthin. The process parameters for biomass and canthaxanthin production were statistically optimized using response surface methodology. The effect of process parameters, namely glucose (5–20 g/L), NaCl (0.2 – 1.0 g/L) and pH (5 – 7) on the biomass and canthaxanthin production were studied. The optimal conditions for biomass and canthaxanthin production were glucose, 12.5 g/L; NaCl, 0.6 g/L and pH, 7 resulting in the highest canthaxanthin yield of 2997 µg/L and biomass of 3.03 g/L. The results exposed that these three process variables had greater influence on the production of canthaxanthin by the strain Dietzia maris AURCCBT01. The scale-up study was carried out in a jar fermenter under the optimized conditions. The maximum production for canthaxanthin and biomass was 3103 µg/L, 3.2 g/L was achieved respectively, and the results are encouraging for optimization under industrial conditions.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the anticancer activity of flexirubin produced by Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT8497 and to explore its mechanism of action. The effect of flexirubin on cell proliferation of MCF-7 cells were evaluated by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl]-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT), sulforhodamine B (SRB) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays. Cell apoptosis was detected by DNA fragmentation and expression of apoptosis-related genes were assessed by RT-PCR. The study was further designed to appraise the anticancer activity of flexirubin against 7,12-di methylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) induced breast cancer in Sprague Dawley rats for 120 days. Treatment of cells at various concentrations (25 to 400 μg/ml) inhibited cell viability in a dose dependent manner. IC50 values of flexirubin on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells obtained by MTT, SRB and LDH were 62, 71 and 48 μM respectively. DNA fragmentation was observed in MCF-7 cell line at 45 and 90 μg/ml concentration, while no DNA fragmentation was observed in untreated cells. Flexirubin treated cells exhibited considerable decrease in the level of anti-apoptotic protein BCL-2, a strong indication that the intrinsic apoptotic pathway may play a role in MCF-7 cells. The expression of p53, caspase 3 and BCL-2 was induced by flexirubin in a dose and time dependent manner. The compound flexirubin showed good affinity to the receptor due to more lipophilic character and hydrogen bonding. The results obtained in the molecular docking studies showed good correlation with in vitro and in vivo activity. Molecular docking showed that flexirubin was effective to control the over expression of anti-apoptotic protein MCL-1, suggesting its possible applications in cancer treatment. Our findings implement that flexirubin is a potential chemo-preventive agent against human breast cancer.

Origanum species are mostly distributed around the Mediterranean, Euro-Siberian, and Iran-Siberian regions. Since time immemorial, the genus has popularly been used in Southern Europe, as well as on the American continent as a spice now known all over the world under the name "oregano" or "pizza-spice." Origanum plants are also employed to prepare bitter tinctures, wines, vermouths, beer, and kvass. The major components of Origanum essential oil are various terpenes, phenols, phenolic acids, and flavonoids with predominant occurrence of carvacrol and thymol (with reasonable amounts of p-cymen and -terpinene) or of terpinene-4-ol, linalool, and sabinene hydrate. Many species of Origanum genus are used to treat kidney, digestive, nervous, and respiratory disorders, spasms, sore throat, diabetes, lean menstruation, hypertension, cold, insomnia, toothache, headache, epilepsy, urinary tract infections, etc. Origanum essential oil showed potent bioactivities owing to its major constituents' carvacrol, thymol, and monoterpenes. Several preclinical studies evidenced its pharmacological potential as antiproliferative or anticancer, antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, anti-obesity, renoprotective, antiinflammatory, vasoprotective, cardioprotective, antinociceptive, insecticidal, and hepatoprotective properties. Its nanotechnological applications as a promising pharmaceutical in order to enhance the solubility, physicochemical stability, and the accumulation rate of its essential oils have been investigated. However, Origanum has been reported causing angioedema, perioral dermatitis, allergic reaction, inhibition of platelet aggregation, hypoglycemia, and abortion. Conclusive evidences are still required for its clinical applications against human medical conditions. Toxicity analyses and risk assessment will aid to its safe and efficacious application. In addition, elaborate structure-activity studies are needed to explore the potential use of Origanum-derived phytochemicals as promising drug candidates.

As an investigative study, the potent bacterium Serratia marcescens SB08 was screened from the enteric gut of sulfur butterfly (Kricogonia lyside). Its pigment potential was tested, and the pigment was identified as prodigiosin by structural studies using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectroscopy (GC–MS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Various conditions, including pH, reaction time, temperature, color intensity, and fastness properties, were studied for pure silk, China silk, and cotton yarns, and the conditions for effective dyeing were optimized. Further, the pigment’s antimicrobial pursuit was tested to counter the common pathogens Bacillus subtilis MTCC2388, Escherichia coli MTCC443, Klebsiella pneumonia MTCC109, Proteus vulgaris MTCC1771, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC1688. The pigment was largely effectual and exhibited utmost zones of inhibition, thus demonstrating the finest antimicrobial effect against the microbes tested. The textile yarn materials soaked with this intrinsic dye pigment also exhibited antimicrobial action.

Nanoparticles are currently attracting increasing attention thanks to their prospective usages in diverse fields including agriculture, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc. They are produced using physical and chemical approaches, and toxic substances are released in the course of the production of nanoparticles that affect the ecology, particularly the surrounding natural environment. To address this concern the alternative practice of biological synthesis of green and stable nanoparticles has emerged; plants, fungi, bacteria, yeast, algae, and their by-products are utilized as source materials in this green process. Microbial pigment, being one such key source material, is a prospective one to synthesize nanoparticles; pigment-mediated nanoparticles are prospective ones for a variety of applications such as drug delivery, cancer treatment, antibacterial agents, wastewater treatment, biodegradation, biofuels, and biosensors. This chapter chiefly centers on the biosynthesis of nanoparticles from microbes and the commonly used enzyme- and pigment-mediated metal nanoparticles. Furthermore, this chapter addresses the latest advancements in the biosynthesis of pigment-mediated nanoparticles, formation of nanoparticles, their mechanism, size, shape, and stability. Moreover, the current limitations and prospectives of microbial pigment-mediated nanoparticles are discussed also.

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.

The development and spread of resistance to antimicrobial drugs is hampering the management of microbial infectious and wound healing processes. Curcumin is the most active and effective constituent of Curcuma longa L., also known as turmeric, and has a very long and strong history of medicinal value for human health and skincare. Curcumin has been proposed as strong antimicrobial potentialities and many attempts have been made to determine its ability to conjointly control bacterial growth and promote wound healing. However, low aqueous solubility, poor tissue absorption and short plasma half-life due its rapid metabolism needs to be solved for made curcumin formulations as suitable treatment for wound healing. New curcumin nanoformulations have been designed to solve the low bioavailability problem of curcumin. Thus, in the present review, the therapeutic applications of curcumin nanoformulations for antimicrobial and wound healing purposes is described.

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 &times, 103 CFU/mL, 24.1 &times, 103 CFU/mL and 6.7 &times, 103 CFU/mL respectively. Orange (21.6 &times, 103 CFU/mL) and red (8.0 &times, 103 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 &amp, 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 1H-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 &micro, g and 150 &micro, g, respectively, and BSE6.1 require 400 &micro, g 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.

Mangroves are the dominant ecosystems along the subtropical and tropical coastlines around the world. A mangrove is a biodiversity hot spot and one of the richest in ecosystem services in the world, but, due to the lack of data, it is often not mentioned in many global mangrove studies. Microbes, being an important component of the mangrove environment, not only play a critical role in creating and maintaining the biosphere but also serve as a source of biotechnologically valuable and important products. The mangrove ecosystem remains largely unexplored and therefore offers an excellent opportunity for finding rare microbes with unique properties, capable of producing many novel bioactive compounds such as antibiotics, enzymes, pigments, vitamins, immunosuppressants, immune modulators, and antitumor agents. It is suggested that these unique strains of mangrove microbes be further studied in the search for broad-spectrum, novel antibiotics that could be effective in pharmacological applications. The mangrove ecosystem is very rich in microbial diversity, and less than 5% of it has been described. Hence, the present chapter makes an attempt to review the microbial pigment diversity in mangrove ecosystems and its potential biotechnological applications.

There is worldwide interest in process development for the production of pigments from natural sources due to a serious safety problem with many artificial synthetic colorants, which have widely been used in foodstuff, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. Low-cost by-products and residues of agro-industrial origin have shown their potential in production of different pigments by diverse group microorganisms and to explore the possibility of pigment production by different microbial isolates from numerous sources on various substrates. The main applications of recycled wastes are enzyme production, organic acid isolation, pigment extraction, bioactive compound production, etc. Therefore, more regulatory approval and capital investments are required to bring these value-added products in the commercial market. The conversion of agro-industrial residues to important substances may not only provide future dimension to researchers but also reduce the current environmental hazards.

Microbial pigments have great interest within the healthcare industry, as they possess immunosuppressive, antifungal, antiproliferative properties, induce apoptosis, and may have potential for medical applications. The microbes such as Micrococcus, Bacillus, Rhodotorula, Monascus, Phaffia, Sarcina, and Achromobacter have the capability to produce different pigments. Biosynthesis of microbial pigments has been greatly underexplored and a multitude of potentially useful pigments still await discovery. Only less than 1% of the microbial community is estimated to be cultivated in the laboratory and vast diversity of microbial pigments and their encoding biosynthetic gene clusters remain to be exploited. The expansion of eco-friendly technologies in pigment synthesis is of considerable importance to expand their biological applications. Nanotechnology is presently employed as a tool to explore the darkest avenues of medical sciences to combat diseases caused by drug-resistant microbes. This chapter provides the state-of-art knowledge on the synthesis of nanoparticles from pigments and their pharmacological applications. The current limits and future forecasts for the synthesis of pigment-mediated nanoparticles by microorganisms are discussed.

Flexirubin has a broad range of pharmacological effects such as antimicrobial and anticancer activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the adverse effect of flexirubin (Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497) by acute, sub-acute (28 days repeated dose) oral toxicity and mutagenicity studies. The acute and sub-acute oral toxicity studies were performed in Sprague-Dawley rats (n – 12; male – 6; female – 6/group) as per OECD 425 (up and down procedure) and OECD 407 guidelines respectively. There was no mortality and signs of toxicity in acute and sub-acute toxicity studies. No test substance related differences were observed in body weight, food consumption, clinical signs, organ weight, haematology and serum biochemical parameters in treated groups of flexirubin at a target concentration of 1250, 2500 and 5000 mg/kg body weight per day for 28 days. The no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of flexirubin was 5000 mg/kg body weight/day, the highest dose investigated. No evidence of mutagenicity was found, either in vitro (bacterial reverse mutation assay) or in vivo in mice (bone marrow micronucleus assay and sperm shape abnormality assay). The findings of this acute, sub-acute toxicity and mutagenicity studies support the safety of flexirubin extract.

International audience; 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.

At present, response surface methodology (RSM) is the most preferred method for fermentation media optimization. However, in the last two decades, artificial intelligence algorithm has become one of the most efficient methods for empirical modelling and optimization. One of the popular developed approaches is Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), which is used in optimizing a problem. This paper focuses on comparative studies between RSM and PSO in fermentation media optimization for the production of flexirubin production using Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497T. Two methodologies were compared for in terms of their modeling, sensitivity analysis, and optimization abilities. All experiments were performed accordingly to box-behnken design (BBD), and the generated data was analyzed using RSM and PSO. The sensitivity analysis performed by both methods has given comparative results. Based on the correlation coefficient, the model developed with PSO was found to be superior to the model developed with RSM. The result shows that PSO gives a better pigmentation yield with optimal fermentation concentration.

Bacterial pigments showed potential in various applications but the pigment production is limited due to high cost. This study reports on the optimization of yellowish-orange pigment production by Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497 in liquid pineapple waste medium using response surface methodology (RSM). Culture conditions affecting pigment production were optimized statistically in shake flask experiments. Liquid pineapple waste (LPW), l -tryptophan and potassium phosphate (KH 2 PO 4 ) were the most significant variables affecting pigment production. Central composite design (CCD) 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 (152 mg l −1 ) in shake flasks were LPW 20% (v/v), l -tryptophan 125 g l 1 and KH 2 PO 4 12.5 g l −1 . Production under optimized conditions is 3- folds higher than its production in nutrient broth. High pigment production was observed in 5 l (540 ± 14 mg l −1 ) and 50 l (200 ± 28 mg l −1 ) bioreactor under these optimized conditions. Two compounds from yellowish-orange pigment extracted from LPW were isolated and characterized using chromatography, ESI-MS and ATR techniques. Results showed that statistical optimization of medium composition influenced the yellowish-orange pigment production from C . artocarpi CECT 8497. The pigment was incorporated as natural colorant in soap making. Also, this is the first report optimizing the process parameters for yellowish-orange pigment production from C . artocarpi CECT 8497 in liquid pineapple waste.

In this work we directed our inquiries to develop a stable flexirubin powder and to evaluate its properties and antioxidant activity. Flexirubin powders were produced by spray drying using two types of carrier agents: gum arabic (GA) and қ-carrageenan (KC) at different inlet air temperatures (140–220 °C). The effect of encapsulation yield, moisture content, hygroscopicity, bulk density, solubility, particle morphology, storage stability and antioxidant activities were determined for both carrier agents. Encapsulation yield, moisture content and bulk densities were greatly influenced by the drying inlet air temperature. The stability test revealed that microencapsulation offered greater protection to flexirubin compared to its free form. Antioxidant activity is higher for microcapsules (687.5 g/kg wet basis) and the boosted properties of microcapsules with high colour stability indicate that this product, which currently has no commercial value, may be used as a natural pigment.

Natural dyes and pigments are emerged as an important alternative to potentially harmful synthetic dyes. There is a growing demand for eco-friendly/non-toxic colourants specifically for textile dyeing because of its sustainability, green chemistry and improved eco-balances. The present study aimed to evaluate the dyeing potential of violet pigment from Chromobacterium violaceum UTM5. Dye-ability of violet pigment on different fabrics, i.e. pure cotton, pure silk, pure rayon, jacquard rayon, silk satin, cotton and polyester were tested using mordants and colour fastness tests were performed. Results from this study showed that violet pigment is capable of dyeing both natural and synthetic fibres. The use of slake lime mordant resulted in darker colour for cotton and silk satin. The colour fastness test showed fair to excellent (3/4) rating for fabrics dyed with violet pigment. This study demonstrates that violet pigment may have commercial demand in the textile industry.

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.

Spray drying is one of the well-established one-step processes of encapsulation technique to form micro particles. The concentrated violet pigment produced from Chromobacterium violaceum UTM 5 was encapsulated using Gum Arabic and spray dried under optimum conditions: atomizing air (1.15 kg/cm 3 ), temperature feed rate (30 °C), air flow rate (60 m 3 /h), inlet (180 °C) and outlet (85 °C) temperatures to produce violet powder. On further investigation, the encapsulated pigment exhibited greatest stability during the entire storage period of 30 days at pH 7, temperature 25–60 °C and under dark condition. The violet powders produced were utilized in coloring food products, yogurt and jelly. Results confirmed promising use of this healthy natural colorant in food industry. This is the first report on spray drying of violet pigment from Chromobacterium violaceum and its potential for application in food items.

Synthetic pigments have been utilized in numerous industries including textile, cosmetic, food and pharmaceuticals. However, the drawbacks of these pigments, namely toxicity problems have kindled interest in natural pigments. In view of this, the use of natural pigments such as those from a bacterial origin offers an interesting alternative for industrial application. However, large scale applications of natural pigments are often hindered by the high production cost. This study evaluates the feasibility of using liquid pineapple waste for the production of violacein by a locally isolated Chromobacterium violaceum UTM5 both in a shake flask and a 50 L bioreactor. The use of optimized growth parameters including culture conditions, concentration of liquid pineapple waste and supplementation of L-tryptophan resulted in a violacein yield of 16 256 ± 440 mg L−1. Post treatment of the effluent effectively reduced the COD, turbidity and TSS contents to less than 1 mg L−1, 1.57 ± 0.2 NTU and 2.7 ± 0.6 mg L−1 respectively. The violet pigment exhibited good stability during the entire storage period of 30 days at pH 7, temperature 25–30 °C and under dark conditions. The violet pigment has a good antimicrobial activity against selected microorganisms. Of interest, the pigment was active against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) ATCC 43300 with a MIC value of 7.8 and 15.6 μg mL−1, respectively. However, the pigment is toxic to the V79-4 Chinese hamster lung cells with low selectivity index. The purified compounds were determined as violacein and deoxyviolacein respectively using FT-IR, LC-MS and NMR. The results confirmed the feasibility of using liquid pineapple waste as a potential low cost growth medium for the large-scale cultivation of violet pigment using C. violaceum UTM5.

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.

Microbial pigments due to their better biodegradability and higher compatibility with the environment offer promising avenues for various industrial applications like food, cloth, painting, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, plastics, etc. Nevertheless, the current bacterial pigment productions are not effective to meet their industrial needs. Current research on microbial pigments signify that genetic engineering for strain improvement, optimization of bioprocess modeling and utilizing cheap agro-industrial residues as substrates are key developmental strategies to maximize pigment production. Solid-state fermentation (SSF) has been reassessed as an alternative to submerged fermentation and could be a possible strategy for the cost-effective production of microbial pigments. The investment for SSF is usually lower than that of submerged fermentation, since it uses waste agricultural residues. This chapter summarizes the effective way to produce microbial pigments in agro-industrial waste (SSF) for its wide-ranging industrial applications and commercial viability.

The pigment from Chryseobacterium sp. UTM-3 T was isolated and characterized with the aim to develop a natural colorant for application in bio-pigment production. The pigment was characterized by UV–Vis, FTIR, NMR and LC–MS which confirms that it belongs to flexirubin type of pigment. The physical and chemical properties revealed that the pigment has similar properties as most of natural pigment. It was insoluble in water and most organic solvents, but soluble only in acetone and alkaline aqueous and DMSO. The pigment was stable in UV, sunlight and in dark conditions, stable in the range of 25–100 1C. L n , a n and b n values of the CIELAB color system for the pigments were measured and hue, chroma were then calculated. The color of the pigment was in the range of yellow. This is the first report on the characterization of pigment from Chryseobacterium sp.

A bacterial strain, designated UTM-3T, isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Artocarpus integer (cempedak) in Malaysia was studied to determine its taxonomic position. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, non-spore-forming rods, devoid of flagella and gliding motility, that formed yellow-pigmented colonies on nutrient agar and contained MK-6 as the predominant menaquinone. Comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain UTM-3T with those of the most closely related species showed that the strain constituted a distinct phyletic line within the genus Chryseobacterium with the highest sequence similarities to Chryseobacterium lactis NCTC 11390T, Chryseobacterium viscerum 687B-08T, Chryseobacterium tructae 1084-08T, Chryseobacterium arthrosphaerae CC-VM-7T, Chryseobacterium oncorhynchi 701B-08T, Chryseobacterium vietnamense GIMN1.005T, Chryseobacterium bernardetii NCTC 13530T, Chryseobacterium nakagawai NCTC 13529T, Chryseobacterium gallinarum LMG 27808T, Chryseobacterium culicis R4-1AT, Chryseobacterium flavum CW-E2T, Chryseobacterium aquifrigidense CW9T, Chryseobacterium ureilyticum CCUG 52546T, Chryseobacterium indologenes NBRC 14944T, Chryseobacterium gleum CCUG 14555T, Chryseobacterium jejuense JS17-8T, Chryseobacterium oranimense H8T and Chryseobacterium joostei LMG 18212T. The major whole-cell fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C17 : 1ω9c, followed by summed feature 4 (iso-C15 : 0 2-OH and/or C16 : 1ω7t) and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH, and the polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine and several unknown lipids. The DNA G+C content strain UTM-3T was 34.8 mol%. On the basis of the phenotypic and phylogenetic evidence, it is concluded that the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Chryseobacterium , for which the name Chryseobacterium artocarpi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is UTM-3T ( = CECT 8497T = KCTC 32509T).

Natural pigments sourced from ores, insects, plants and animals were the colorants used since prehistoric period. Synthetic dyes which took the place of natural pigments in the middle of 19th century still rule the field to the maximum extent in spite of its hazardous effect to humans, animals and environment. As an alternative to synthetic pigments, bacterial pigments due to their better biodegradability and higher compatibility with the environment, offer promising avenues for various applications. The industry is now able to produce some bacterial pigments for applications in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and textiles. Extraction of bacterial pigments in relatively pure and concentrated forms is the main technological challenge. Optimization of fermentation process and the medium components are reported as key strategies for economic recovery of pigments. Research work needs to be carried out to formulate the fermentation media for each bacterial pigment on large scale by using economical and easily available sources for commercial process. Recent advances in synthetic biology, metabolic engineering efforts of bacteria will greatly expand the pigments that could be produced economically in sufficient amounts for industrial application. This review summarizes the current technology status and challenges, economics, novel strategies for production of bacterial pigments and metabolic engineering of bacteria with a focus on applications of bacterial pigments in food industry, pharmaceutical industry, dyeing as well as on other applications.

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 LC50 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.

The potential of the white rot fungus, Coriolus versicolor ML04 to decolorize the widely used textile dye Blue BB was tested by employing statistical optimization. Response surface methodology (RSM) involving a central composite design (CCD) was applied to evaluate the interactive effects of four significant factors in different ranges i.e.; glucose (0.5 - 2.5 g/L), yeast extract (0.4 -1.2 g/L), dye concentration (100 - 500 ppm) and inoculum size (5 - 20 % v/v) to decolorize the Blue BB. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the statistical experimental design and the ability of C. versicolor ML04 for maximum dye decolorization (>96%) at the optimum conditions of the significant factors.

The competence of the living creatures to sense and respond to light is well known. The effect of darkness and different color light quality on biomass, extracellular and intracellular pigment yield of five potent pigment producers Monascus purpureus, Isaria farinosa, Emericella nidulans, Fusarium verticillioides and Penicillium purpurogenum, with different color shades such as red, pink, reddish brown and yellow, were investigated. Incubation in total darkness increased the biomass, extracellular and intracellular pigment production in all the fungi. Extracellular red pigment produced by M. purpureus resulted maximum in darkness 36.75 + or - 2.1 OD and minimum in white unscreened light 5.90 + or - 1.1 OD. Similarly, intracellular red pigment produced by M. purpureus resulted maximum in darkness 18.27 + or - 0.9 OD/g and minimum in yellow light 8.03 + or - 0.6 OD/g of substrate. The maximum biomass production was also noticed in darkness 2.51 g/L and minimum in yellow light 0.5 g/L of dry weight. In contrast, growth of fungi in green and yellow wavelengths resulted in low biomass and pigment yield. It was found that darkness, (red 780-622 nm, blue 492-455 nm) and white light influenced pigment and biomass yield.

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.

Although natural pigments are in demand, large scale applications of these pigments are restricted due to high pigment production cost. The present study demonstrates on the feasibility of utilizing liquid pineapple waste as low cost growth medium for violet pigment production by Chromobacterium violaceum UTM5 in 5 L bioreactor. Additional supplementation of l-tryptophan was added to increase the yield of pigment. A high pigment yield of 5790 ± 10 mg L−1 was obtained from the cultivation. The yield was 16 times higher than yield obtained from shake flask cultivation. The active compounds were isolated, purified, and characterized as violacein and deoxyviolacein by using FT-IR and LC-MS. Thus, liquid pineapple waste exhibited as a potential low cost growth medium for violet pigment production by C. violaceum UTM5 with an addition of l-tryptophan as supplementation in enhancing the pigment yield.

The current inclination towards exploiting bacterial pigments for various coloring functions, like food, cloth, painting, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, plastics etc. is a well-recognized aspect. Nevertheless, the current bacterial pigment productions are not effective to meet their industrial needs. Current research going on world over on bacterial pigments signify that genetic engineering for strain improvement, optimization of bioprocess modelling and utilizing cheap agro-industrial residues as substrates are key developmental strategies to maximize pigment production from bacteria. Incidentally the superior performance characteristics of the bacteria for producing differing colouring compounds and the environmental acceptability of bacterial pigments are very encouraging factors to promote higher pigment production taking advantage of the current developmental strategies. This paper evaluates the current advances in bacterial pigment production, its recovery and wide-ranging scope of its industrial applications and commercial viability.

Marine actinomycetes were isolated from sediment samples collected from Pitchavaram mangrove ecosystem situated along the southeast coast of India. Maximum actinomycete population was noted in rhizosphere region. About 38% of the isolates produced L-asparaginase. One potential strain KUA106 produced higher level of enzyme using tryptone glucose yeast extract medium. Based on the studied phenotypic characteristics, strain KUA106 was identified as Streptomyces parvulus KUA106. The optimization method that combines the Plackett-Burman design, a factorial design and the response surface method, which were used to optimize the medium for the production of L-asparaginase by Streptomycetes parvulus. Four medium factors were screened from eleven medium factors by Plackett-Burman design experiments and subsequent optimization process to find out the optimum values of the selected parameters using central composite design was performed. Asparagine, tryptone, d) extrose and NaCl components were found to be the best medium for the L-asparaginase production. The combined optimization method described here is the effective method for screening medium factors as well as determining their optimum level for the production of L-asparaginase by Streptomycetes parvulus KUAP106.

For production of protease by a new strain, Serratia marcescens SB08, optimization of the fermentation medium and environmental conditions, were carried out by applying factorial design and response surface methodology. The results of factorial design showed that pH, agitation, incubation time and yeast extract were the key factors affecting protease production. The optimal cultural conditions for protease production obtained with response surface methodology were pH 6.0, agitation 100 rpm, incubation time 51.0 h and yeast extract 3.0 g/l. This model was also validated by repeating the experiments under the optimized conditions, which resulted in the maximum protease production of 281.23 U/ml (Predicted response 275.66 U/ml), thus proving the validity of the model. Unexplored Serratia marcescens SB08 strain isolated from enteric gut of sulphur butterfly (Kricogonia lyside) was taken up for this study. This study demonstrates the ability of the new strain, Serratia marcescens SB08, for protease production and also that smaller and less time consuming statistical experimental designs are adequate for the optimization of fermentation processes for maximum protease production.

International audience; The current inclination towards exploiting bacterial pigments for various coloring functions, like food, cloth, painting, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, plastics etc. is a well-recognized aspect. Nevertheless, the current bacterial pigment productions are not effective to meet their industrial needs. Current research going on world over on bacterial pigments signify that genetic engineering for strain improvement, optimization of bioprocess modelling and utilizing cheap agro-industrial residues as substrates are key developmental strategies to maximize pigment production from bacteria. Incidentally the superior performance characteristics of the bacteria for producing differing colouring compounds and the environmental acceptability of bacterial pigments are very encouraging factors to promote higher pigment production taking advantage of the current developmental strategies. This paper evaluates the current advances in bacterial pigment production, its recovery and wide-ranging scope of its industrial applications and commercial viability.