Abstract
Biosurfactants have gained a renewed interest in the recent years for their commercial application in diverse research areas. Recent evidences suggest that the antimicrobial activities exhibited by biosurfactants make them promising molecules for the application in the field of therapeutics. Marine microbes are well known for their unique metabolic and functional properties; however, few reports are available till date regarding their biosurfactant production and antimicrobial potential. In an ongoing survey for bioactive microbial metabolites from microbes isolated from diverse ecological niches, a marine Staphylococcus saprophyticus SBPS 15 isolated from the petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated coastal site, Puducherry, India, was identified as a promising biosurfactant producer based on multiple screening methods. This bacterium exhibited growth-dependent biosurfactant production and the recorded yield was 1.345 ± 0.056 g/L (on dry weight basis). The biosurfactant was purified and chemically characterized as a glycolipid with a molecular mass of 606.7 Da, based on TLC, biochemical estimation methods, FT-IR spectrum and MALDI-TOF-MS analysis. Further, the estimated molecular mass was different from the earlier reports on biosurfactants. This new glycolipid biosurfactant exhibited a board range of pH and temperature stability. Furthermore, it revealed a promising antimicrobial activity against many tested human pathogenic bacterial and fungal clinical isolates. Based on these observations, the isolated biosurfactant from the marine S. saprophyticus revealed board physicochemical stabilities and possess excellent antimicrobial activities which proves its significance for possible use in various therapeutic and biomedical applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a biosurfactant from the bacterium, S. saprophyticus.