Production of prodigiosin from Serratia marcescens isolated from soil

Prodigiosin is a promising drug owing to its reported characteristics of having antifungal, immunosuppressive and anti-proliferative activity. Prodigiosin was first characterized from Serratia marcescens. Investigations were made in the present study to screen new strains of Serratia that effectively produce prodigiosin. A new strain designated as S. marcescens NY1 was isolated. The parameters viz., temperature, pH, sugar substrate and oil substrate were optimized to increase the production of prodigiosin. It was observed that maximum amount of prodigiosin was produced at temperature 30°C and pH 7.0. Among the different sugar substrates tested maltose when amended in the medium yielded 425±40 mg/L of prodigiosin. Oil substrates play a vital role in prodigiosin production. Among the various oil substrates used the production of prodigiosin was maximum (535±45 mg/L) when the medium was amended with peanut oil. Keywords: Prodigiosin, Serratia marcescens, biopigments