Original Research Paper
Isolation and characterization of flexirubin type pigment from Chryseobacterium sp. UTM-3T

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2014.02.006Get rights and content

Abstract

The pigment from Chryseobacterium sp. UTM-3T 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 °C. L, a and b 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.

Introduction

The present trend throughout the world is shifting towards the use of eco-friendly and biodegradable natural colorants due to its pharmacological activities. The demand for natural colorants is increasing day by day and are sourced from ores, insects, plants and microbes. Among microbes, bacteria have the immense potential to produce diverse bioproducts and one such bioproduct is pigment. The production and application of bacterial pigment as natural colorants is being investigated by various researchers (Venil et al., 2013). Pigments produced by bacteria are of traditional use in oriental countries and have been a subject of intense research in the present decades because of its potential for applications. Most researchers have focused on the production of yellow, violet and red pigment production from different bacteria. However, the study of pigment (flexirubin) from Chryseobacterium is very limited.

Flexirubins are the unique type of bacterial pigments with terminal alkyl substitution consisting of ω-phenyl octaenic acid chromophore esterified with resorcinol and are used in the treatment for chronic skin disease, eczema, gastric ulcers etc (Kim, 2013). Recent studies of the genus Chryseobacterium have documented the significance of its bioactive compounds as biocontrol agent, antioxidants, prebiotics, sulfobacin A and protease producer (Scheuplein et al., 2007, Wang et al., 2007, Chaudhari et al., 2009, Wang et al., 2011, Kim et al., 2012) which substantiate that it is a novel source of bioactive compounds. The flexirubin was first isolated in 1974 from Flexibacter elegans (Reichenbach and Kleinig, 1974) which turned out to be member of a novel class of pigments (Achenbach et al., 1974, Achenbach et al., 1976). Similar pigments were later identified in a number of other bacteria viz., Cytophaga sp, Sporocytophaga sp and Chryseobacterium sp. Each genera produce specifically modified species of flexirubin which serve as excellent chemosystematic markers (Reichenbach and Kleinig, 1974). According to the survey on the occurrence of the novel compounds, the distribution of flexirubin is rather limited. In the present study, the pigment from Chryseobacterium sp. UTM-3T was characterised and the properties of the pigment were studied to reveal its potential as a substitute for synthetic colorants.

Section snippets

Bacteria, media and culture conditions

The pigmented bacteria, Chryseobacterium sp. UTM-3T (=CECT 8497T=KCTC 32509T) isolated from the Orchard in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia was used in this study. The 16S rRNA sequence of the bacteria was submitted to GenBank under Accession No. KF751867. The strain was grown in Nutrient broth followed by incubation at 30 °C for 24 h with an agitation speed of 150 rpm. All chemicals used were of analytical grade.

The bacterial cell was cultivated in 20 mL NB in 100 mL Erlenmeyer flask at 30 °C

Structural determination of the pigments

The orange pigment exhibited peaks at 450 nm when extracted in acetone (Fig. 2). The FTIR spectrum for the purified pigment is shown in Fig. 3. In the spectra of datiscetin, the peak at 3753 cm−1 is attributed to the hydroxyl stretching of absorbed water and the absorption band at 3454 cm−1 is due to the OH groups. The peaks between 1737 cm−1 and 1217 cm−1 corresponds to C–O stretchings. The shifts in carbonyl and the hydroxyl absorption spectra of the pigment can be related to strong chelation (

Conclusions

In this study, the pigment was isolated from Chryseobacterium UTM-3T. The pigment was purified and identified as flexirubin type of pigment. Further the physico-chemical properties were characterized and found the pigment was stable towards temperature and light. From the results of this study it is concluded that an interesting yellow pigment could be isolated and purified from Chryseobacterium sp. by submerged fermentation. However, large scale fermentation should be carried out for

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to the Ministry of Agriculture, Malaysia for the Techno fund grant (TF0310F080; RJ130000.7926.4H002), Research University Grants (Q.J130000.2526.02H84 and Q.J130000.2526.03H83) and Universiti Teknologi Malayisa for the Post Doctoral Fellowship to Dr. C.K. Venil.

References (20)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (39)

  • Hepatoprotective effects of flexirubin, a novel pigment from Chryseobacterium artocarpi, against carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury: An in vivo study and molecular modeling

    2022, Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology
    Citation Excerpt :

    A yellowish-orange-pigmented bacterial strain, Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497, was used in this study. It was previously isolated from rhizosphere soil samples associated with the woody tree Artocarpus integer from an orchard in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Malaysia (Venil et al., 2014). A loopful from an overnight culture of C. artocarpi CECT 8497 was inoculated into a 100 mL Erlenmeyer flask containing 50 mL nutrient broth (NB), Merck, Germany.

  • Chemo-preventive potential of flexirubin against human breast cancer: An in vitro, in vivo and in silico approach

    2021, Materials Today: Proceedings
    Citation Excerpt :

    The structure of the flexirubin is characterized by non-isoprenoid ω-phenylpolyenecarboxylic acids in ester linkage with dialkylated resorcinols. The structurally similar ω-phenyl-analogous polyenoic acids display bio-activity [17]. In light of these findings, it is assumed that flexirubin might serve as a novel therapeutic agent for breast cancer therapy.

  • Production kinetics of β-carotene from Planococcus sp. TRC1 with concomitant bioconversion of industrial solid waste into crystalline cellulose rich biomass

    2020, Process Biochemistry
    Citation Excerpt :

    The effect of each factor was studied to optimize the best suited parameters for maximizing productivity. The stability of extracted pigment was tested by measuring the absorbance at ƛmax (465 nm) [23] against harsh environmental conditions of temperature, pH and light according to Venil et al. [32], which is a prerequisite from industrial applicability point of view. The alterations were marked and reported.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text