Isolation of Melanin Pigment Producing Marine Actinobacterium of Streptomyces Isolated From Marine Sediment Samples and Their Antibacterial Activity
Author(s): Lakshminarayanan Arivarasu*, Pravalika Arunkumar and Pitchiah Sivaperumal
Abstract
Introduction: Melanin is a pigment produced by organisms throughout all domains of life. In the vast majority of studies, melanin has been either chemically synthesized or isolated from animals. Marine organisms are the source of thousands of substances, which also have antibacterial and antifungal effects. Microbial mediated production is the best viable alternative to obtain melanin. This method has the advantage of being scalable and providing a good yield of melanin. Streptomyces is the largest genus of Actinobacteria and the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae.
Materials and method: The sediment samples were collected from parangipettai, Tamilnadu. The sediments were sundried for 24-48 hrs and turned into a fine powder with mortar and pestle. Isolation of Actinobacteria, Identification of marine actinobacteria, Production and purification of melanin, Chemical analysis of Melanin. Antibacterial activity: The antibacterial activity of melanin was performed with disc diffusion method. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration was also observed.
Results: Presence of actinobacteria from the isolated sediment sample is confirmed by chemotaxis characteristics. The antibacterial activity of the melanin pigment isolated from Streptomyces sample was analysed and found that the minimum inhibitory concentration was more compared to the standard antibacterial agent that is tetracycline.
Conclusion: In the present study, produced melanin pigment was found to have potent antibacterial potential activity. Further characterization and bio active properties should be done in future studies, and more articles in future are yet to come in various properties of melanin pigment.