Antimicrobial and Anti Adhesive Activity of Purified Biosurfactants Produced by Candida species

Abstract

Biosurfactant produced by Candida tropicalis and C. albicans was first partially purified in a separating funnel using the solvent dichloromethane. Then the partially purified biosurfactant was analyzed by High performance liquid chromatography. The chemical structure of the biosurfactants was determined by Infra Red Spectroscopy (IF-TR). The results showed the presence of hydroxyl, amino, olefin and carboxylic groups present in both type of biosurfactants produced by C. tropicalis and C. albicans. C. tropicalis biosurfactants has ketone and ester groups, where as, C. albicans biosurfactants has carbonyl, aromatic and nitro groups. In this current study, the biofilm formation assay was performed with different types of clinical and urinary isolates (Bacillus, Candida albicans, Citrobacter, Escherichia coli. Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa., Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus). Among the isolates used in the study, Proteus mirabilis, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, Bacillus and Citrobacter, were produced Biofilm where as Salmonella, E. coli, Candida albicans and K. pneumoniae were negative for biofilm formation. In the present study, comparatively biosurfactant synthesized by C. tropicalis have the highest ability of antimicrobial activity than C. albicans against all microbial cultures. In this study, the anti-adhesive activity of biosurfactants was evaluated against a variety of urinary and clinical pathogens. Adherence of cells was highly reduced in the biosurfactants synthesized by C. tropicalis than the biosurfactants synthesized by C. albicans. Moreover, the biosurfactant showed anti-adhesive activity against most of the microorganisms tested. The results obtained in this work showed that the biosurfactant from C. tropicalis is a potential antimicrobial and anti-adhesive agent for several biomedical applications.