Isolation, Identification, Optimization of Prodigiosin Pigment Produced by Serratia Marcescens and its Applications

Natural products either synthesized or secreted by organisms represent one of the critical sources of potential medicinal use. Both natural pigments and synthetic dyes have been widely used in different fields in on a daily basis life such as foods or feeds, textiles, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, paper printing inks, etc. Secondary metabolites of bacterial origin include various enzymes, pigments, antibiotics etc, which could be of importance to mankind in many ways. Prodigiosin pigment was produced by the bacterium Serratia marcescens, the pigment production is highly uneven among numerous species and is dependent on several factors such as species type and incubation time. Pigment producing microorganisms was isolated from soil samples. It was biochemically characterized and identified as Serratia marcescens. Production of prodigiosin was optimized with respect to different environmental parameters such as pH, temperature, incubation, different media, nitrogen source, sugar substrates. Crude extract of pigment was further purified by thin layer chromatography. Prodigiosin was tested for range of applications such as dyeing, antibacterial and antifungal activity. The dyed in cotton cloth showed good colour tone therefore, the prodigiosin pigment can be suggested for dyeing the textiles in the large scale production of the pigment will make it an alternate for the chemical dyes and future study can be done on anti cancer activity of red pigment from Serratia marcescens in human cervix carcinoma cells.