摘要
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Marine chitins (MC) have been utilized for the production of vast array of bioactive products,
including chitooligomers, chitinase, chitosanase, antioxidants, anti-NO, and antidiabetic compounds.
The aim of this study is the bioprocessing of MC into a potent anticancer compound, prodigiosin (PG),
via microbial fermentation. This bioactive compound was produced by Serratia marcescens TKU011
with the highest yield of 4.62 mg/mL at the optimal conditions of liquid medium with initial pH of
5.65–6.15 containing 1% -chitin, 0.6% casein, 0.05% K2HPO4, and 0.1% CaSO4. Fermentation was
kept at 25 C for 2 d. Notably, -chitin was newly investigated as the major potential material for PG
production via fermentation; the salt CaSO4 was also found to play the key role in the enhancement of
PG yield of Serratia marcescens fermentation for the first time. PG was qualified and identified based
on specific UV, MALDI-TOF MS analysis. In the biological activity tests, purified PG demonstrated
potent anticancer activities against A549, Hep G2, MCF-7, and WiDr with the IC50 values of 0.06,
0.04, 0.04, and 0.2 g/mL, respectively. Mytomycin C, a commercial anti-cancer compound was also
tested for comparison purpose, showing weaker activity with the IC50 values of 0.11, 0.1, 0.14, and
0.15 g/mL, respectively. As such, purified PG displayed higher 2.75-fold, 1.67-fold, and 3.25-fold
ecacy than Mytomycin C against MCF-7, A549, and Hep G2, respectively. The results suggest
that marine chitins are valuable sources for production of prodigiosin, a potential candidate for
cancer drugs. |