Microbial biosurfactants: current trends and applications in agricultural and biomedical industries.

P.J Naughton,R Marchant,I.M Banat,V Naughton

doi:10.1111/jam.14243

Abstract

Synthetic surfactants are becoming increasingly unpopular in many applications due to previously disregarded effects on biological systems and this has led to a new focus on replacing such products with biosurfactants that are biodegradable and produced from renewal resources. Microbially derived biosurfactants have been investigated in numerous studies in areas including: increasing feed digestibility in an agricultural context, improving seed protection and fertility, plant pathogen control, antimicrobial activity, antibiofilm activity, wound healing and dermatological care, improved oral cavity care, drug delivery systems and anticancer treatments. The development of the potential of biosurfactants has been hindered somewhat by the myriad of approaches taken in their investigations, the focus on pathogens as source species and the costs associated with large-scale production. Here, we focus on various microbial sources of biosurfactants and the current trends in terms of agricultural and biomedical applications.

Highlights

It is accepted that widespread use of synthetic surfactants negatively affects the environment
This review focuses on microbial biosurfactants and current trends in agricultural and health related applications
Previous reports on the effectiveness of Bacillus subtilis SPB1 strain (HQ392822) revealed a wide spectrum of actions including antimicrobial activity towards microorganisms with multidrug resistant profiles (Ghribi et al 2012) antifungal activity against phytopathogenic fungi (Mnif and Ghribi 2016) and antidiabetic and anti-lipidemic properties in alloxan-induced diabetic rats (Zouari et al 2016a)

Summary

Synthetic surfactants are becoming increasing unpopular in many applications due to previously disregarded effects on biological systems and this has led to a new focus on replacing such products with biosurfactants that are biodegradable and produced from renewal resources. Derived biosurfactants have been investigated in numerous studies in areas including: increasing feed digestibility in an agricultural context, improving seed protection and fertility, plant pathogen control, anti-microbial activity, anti-biofilm activity, wound healing and dermatological care, improved oral cavity care, drug-delivery systems and anti-cancer treatments. The development of the potential of biosurfactants has been hindered somewhat by the myriad of approaches taken in their investigations, the focus on pathogens as source species and the costs associated with large- scale production. We focus on various microbial sources of biosurfactants and the current trends in terms of agricultural and biomedical applications

Introduction

Findings

Future trends and conclusions