Abstract

CHAVEZ-CASTILLA, L.  and  AGUILAR, O.. Effect of mineral supplementation and type of starch on the production of prodigiosin from a culture of Serratia marcescens BS303. Rev. Mex. Ing. Quím [online]. 2015, vol.14, n.3, pp.641-652. ISSN 1665-2738.

Prodigiosin is a secondary metabolite that has become attractive for industrial microbiology by the large number of potential applications, but limitations like high price related to production, recovery and purification are responsible of the low industrial application. The production of the red pigment prodigiosin in Serratia marcescens is a regulated mechanism that depends on several factors, such as the presence of specific metal ions and carbon sources, for that reason the effect of four minerals and three types of starch as carbon sources on the cultivation behavior of Serratia marcescens BS303 was studied. The role of minerals on prodigiosin content resulted in 1.8-fold increase on the metabolite production using a combination of copper sulfate and ammonium ferric citrate at 0.05 g/L and it is related with the ability of the strain to regulate metal toxicity. The use of hydroxypropylated modified starch as a carbon source caused an increase of 8.1-fold on prodigiosin content and a growth rate of 0.06 h^-1 showing pigment adsorption and probably scaffold properties for bacterial growth, enhancing prodigiosin production by 8.t-fold. Prodigiosin content raise 570 mg/L with mineral supplementation and polartex instant addition.

Keywords : Prodigiosin; Serratia marcescens; 2^k factorial method; culture media; mineral supplementation.