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. |