Physico-chemical Characterization of a Pink Red-like Pigments Produced by Five New Bacterial Soil Strains Identified as Streptomyces coelicoflavus

Abstract

Five new strains MFB11, MFB20, MFB21, MFB23 and MFB24 of actinomycetes showed an intracellular hydrophobic pink red-like pigment production. These pigments present similar physico-chemical characteristics with anthracycline antibiotics of prodigiosin family. Nevertheless, negative antibacterial assay, Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and interaction with organic solvents analysis of these pigments revealed their difference from known anthracycline antibiotics. Morphological, biochemical and gene coding 16S RNA sequence analysis allowed identification of the producer strains as Streptomyces coelicoflavus; known to produce important aminoglycoside antibiotics and other bioactive compounds but not anthracyclines red-like pigments. The identification of the five strains and physico-chemical properties of the produced pink red-like pigments are presented in this report.