Effect of Various Substrate and Process Parameters on the Production of Prodigiosin by Serratia marcescens MTCC 4822

In the present study it has been investigated that Serratia marcescens MTCC 4822 has good potential for Prodigiosin production. Among the screened media components, maltose was the best carbon source for the production for this strain. The fermentation media supplemented with maltose (2%) and NaCl (0.5%) at pH 6.8-7.0 incubated at 28°C gave maximum prodigiosin production (1390 unit/cell) with the biomass content of 3.45 g L-1 after 96 hrs of incubation period. Prodigiosin, a red pigment, produced by bacterial species Serratia marcescens, belongs to the family of tripyrrole was found to exhibit antibacterial, antimycotic, immunomodulating, anti-tumor and anti-malarial properties. A lot of attention is now paid to the biotechnological synthesis of the colours through the microorganisms. Plant cell and tissue culture, microbial fermentation and gene manipulation have been investigated with respect to the production of biopigments. However, extensive safety testing of such products is required before they are given clearance as safe food additives or other applications.