A study on extraction and characterization of natural red pigment from a soil isolate Serratia marcescens CN14

Natural pigments are a brilliant alternative to artificial ones used for formulations in food, cosmetics and textile industries. Microorganisms, in particular, bacteria are an essentially obliging source for the production and extraction of biologically safe pigments. Thus, this study was aimed at isolating pigmented bacteria and extracting the pigment, characterizing it thereafter. Red pigmented bacteria isolated from a soil sample from the agricultural field of VIT, Vellore was used for the present study. The maximum growth was attained at room temperature. The bacterium was isolated and incubated for pigment production. The pigment was obtained from the pellets extracted using acetone and the purified pigment was identified by spectral analysis, TLC, HPLC and GCMS. The red color pigment, prodigiosin is considered as a potential treatment due to the activities against pathogens, the ability to control cancer can be an immunosuppressive and anti-proliferative agent. This gram-negative bacterium was identified as a Serratia marcescens strain by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The gene sequence was submitted to NCBI as Serratia marcescens CN14 with an accession number of MT007931.