| Title | Antifungal activity of violacein purified from a novel strain of Chromobacterium sp. NIIST (MTCC 5522) |
|---|---|
| Author | Anju Sasidharan1, Nishanth Kumar Sasidharan2, Dileepkumar Bhaskaran Nair Saraswathy Amma2, Radhakrishnan Kokkuvayil Vasu3, Anupama Vijaya Nataraja1, and Krishnakumar Bhaskaran1* |
| Address | 1Environmental Technology, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram 695 019, India, 2Agroprocessing and Natural Products Division, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram 695 019, India, 3Chemical Sciences Division, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram 695 019, India |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 53(10),694-701, 2015, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-015-5173-6 |
| Key Words | antimycotic, Chromobacterium, chromatography, purification, violacein |
| Abstract | A novel strain of Chromobacterium sp. NIIST (MTCC 5522) producing high level of purple blue bioactive compound violacein was isolated from clay mine acidic sediment. During 24 h aerobic incubation in modified Luria Bertani medium, around 0.6 g crude violacein was produced per gram of dry weight biomass. An inexpensive method for preparing crystalline, pure violacein from crude pigment was developed (12.8 mg violacein/L) and the pure compound was characterized by different spectrometric methods. The violacein prepared was found effective against a number of plant and human pathogenic fungi and yeast species such as Cryptococcus gastricus, Trichophyton rubrum, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium expansum, and Candida albicans. The best activity was recorded against Trichophyton rubrum (2 μg/ml), a human pathogen responsible for causing athlete’s foot infection. This is the first report of antifungal activity of purified violacein against pathogenic fungi and yeast. |