The marine environment: a promising source of microorganisms for the production of biosurfactants

Lakshmi Tripathi, Matthew Twigg, Katerina Zompra, Stella Chasapi, Tony Gutierrez, George Spyroulias, R Marchant, Ibrahim Banat

Research output: Contribution to conferencePosterpeer-review

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Abstract

Marine organisms have developed strategies to cope with specialised environmental conditions. One common strategy is the production of biosurfactant molecules to access specific nutrients and to promote biofilm development. In this study, two different marine species from the genera Marinobacter and Halomonas were cultured to investigate biosurfactant production. The strains were able to reduce the surface tension (ST) of the fermentation broth from 58 mN/m to 30 mN/m using rapeseed oil as a carbon source. The biosurfactant produced by Marinobacter species MCTG107b was isolated, purified and structurally characterized as rhamnolipid with 14 different congeners. The Halomonas TGOS-10a was able to produce simultaneously two bioproducts a biosurfactant and a bioplastic polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). The biosurfactant produced by the two strains showed antimicrobial activity against the pathogenic microorganisms Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Finally, the Galleria mellonella waxworm infection model showed that the strains were non-pathogenic. The results show the prospects of marine-derived biosurfactants as promising bio-ingredients for consumer product development due to their surface-activity, non-toxicity and anti-microbial properties.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 25 Sept 2019
EventBiosurfactants 2019 - University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Duration: 25 Sept 201927 Sept 2019
https://biosurfactants.uni-hohenheim.de/en

Conference

ConferenceBiosurfactants 2019
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityStuttgart
Period25/09/1927/09/19
Internet address

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