Evaluation of Biotechnologically Produced Thymol as Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Agents

Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used as a bioreactor to produce foreign proteins and is a safe, non-toxic, non-pathogenic, thermophilic yeast and has become a powerful model system for biological research in a wide range of fields of study. The aim of the current study was to use S. cerevisiae for the production of thymol through the transformation of Thymus vulgaris genetic material and evaluation of the new microbial products as antiaflatoxigenic and antioxidant activity. The study revealed that 40% of the yeast strains were able to produce thymol in variable amount. Using different types of sugar (fructose, lactose, sucrose, mannose, arabinose, glucose and corn steep) as a source of carbohydrate enhanced thymol bio-production, whereas glucose and corn steep produced thymol more efficiently. The antioxidant properties of thymol were examined by two methods DPPH scavenging activity examination, and β-Carotene/linoleic acid assay and both examinations showed the highest antioxidant properties. Mycelia dry weight (MDW) and aflatoxin (AF) production by Aspergillus parasiticus were decreased using different concentration of thymol (75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200 and 250 ppm) and was dependant on the presence of active components and their concentrations. Protein band patterns SDS-PAGE for wild type and transformant yeast strains were performed. In conclusion the transformation of plant genes to S. cerevisiae is considered a major technique for the production of active components that can be used as food preservatives against fungal growth and mycotoxin production. Moreover, this is an easy, safe and economic approach.