Abstract
Surfactants are amphipathic molecules which reduce surface and interfacial tensions and widely used in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and petroleum industries. Biosurfactants are the structurally diverse group of surface-active molecules synthesized by microorganisms. There are several advantages for biosurfactants in contrast with chemical surfactants, such as lower toxicity; higher biodegradability; better environmental compatibility; higher foaming; high selectivity and specific activity at extreme temperatures, pH, and the ability to be synthesized from renewable feed-stock. In the present study, the production of bioemulsifer by Bacillus licheniformis PTCC 1595 has been studied. B. licheniformis was grown in the nutrient broth medium and bioemulsifer production was evaluated every 24 h by surface tension and emulsification index (E24). Then B. licheniformis PTCC 1595 was grown in nutrient broth with different conditions in order to get maximum production of bioemulsifer. The best culture medium was found to be nutrient broth medium supplemented with starch, Fe2+, Mn2+ and olive oil. After growing the bacteria, the microbial biomass was removed from the supernatant by acidic precipitation method. Its amphipathic structure was established by biochemical and spectroscopy methods and it was confirmed lipopeptide structure.
Highlights
Microbial-derived surfactants are amphipatic molecules produced by a wide variety of bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi
CMD−1 and CMD−2 measurements were performed by measuring the surface tension of 10-times and 100-times diluted supernatant
Bioemulsifer production: The Screening of bioemulsifer-producing microorganisms is generally carried out using monitoring parameters that estimate surface activity, emulsifying property and hemolytic capacity
Summary
Microbial-derived surfactants are amphipatic molecules produced by a wide variety of bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi. The most important advantage of biosurfactants when compared to synthetic surfactants is their ecological acceptance, owing to their low toxicity and biodegradable nature[1]. Another advantage of biosurfactants is that they can be modified by biotransformation to generate new products for specific requirements[2]. Microbial surfactants are complex molecules, comprising a wide variety of chemical structures, such as glycolipids, lipopeptides, fatty acids, polysaccharide-protein complexes, peptides, phospholipids and neutral lipids[3]. Bacillus licheniformis produces a lipopeptide called lichenysin. The lipopeptide showed activity against a variety of yeast strains.
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