Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 14;17(4):e0264202.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264202. eCollection 2022.

Isolation and chemical characterization of the biosurfactant produced by Gordonia sp. IITR100

Arif Nissar Zargar  1 , Sarthak Mishra  1 , Manoj Kumar  2 , Preeti Srivastava  1
Affiliations

Isolation and chemical characterization of the biosurfactant produced by Gordonia sp. IITR100

Arif Nissar Zargar et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Biosurfactants are amphipathic molecules produced from microorganisms. There are relatively few species known where the detailed chemical characterization of biosurfactant has been reported. Here, we report isolation and chemical characterization of the biosurfactant produced by a biodesulfurizing bacterium Gordonia sp. IITR100. Biosurfactant production was determined by performing oil spreading, drop-collapse, Emulsion index (E24), and Bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbons (BATH) assay. The biosurfactant was identified as a glycolipid by LCMS and GCMS analysis. The chemical structure was further confirmed by performing FTIR and NMR of the extracted biosurfactant. The emulsion formed by the biosurfactant was found to be stable between temperatures of 4°C to 30°C, pH of 6 to 10 and salt concentrations up to 2%. It was successful in reducing the surface tension of the aqueous media from 61.06 mN/m to 36.82 mN/m. The biosurfactant produced can be used in petroleum, detergents, soaps, the food and beverage industry and the healthcare industry.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Biosurfactant screening assays: A. Drop collapse assay on glass slide, B. Oil spreading assay, C. Microplate assay, D. Emulsion index assay, E. Microscopic image of the emulsion formed by cell free supernatant of Gordonia sp. IITR100. (Left panel) 10% SDS (Middle panel) water, and (Right panel) cell free extract of Gordonia sp. IITR100.
Fig 2
Fig 2
Emulsion stability studies: Effect of temperature (A), pH (B) and salt concentration (C) on emulsion stability. Statistical analysis of the results was performed using single factor ANOVA and p-values for temperature, pH and salt concentration profiles < 0.0001.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Effect of temperature, pH and salt concentration on the microstructure of emulsion.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Critical micelle concentration of the biosurfactant.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Biosurfactant production in a 5 L bioreactor.
Fig 6
Fig 6. TLC characterization of biosurfactant.
Left panel: Crude biosurfactant (A) stained with iodine (B) stained with ninhydrin (C) stained with p-anisaldehyde. Middle panel: Iodine staining for lipid detection (D) control rhamnolipid (E) crude biosurfactant (F) purified biosurfactant. Right panel: p-anisaldehyde staining for carbohydrate detection (G) control rhamnolipid (H) crude biosurfactant (I) purified biosurfactant.
Fig 7
Fig 7. GC-MS spectrum of the extracted biosurfactant.
Fig 8
Fig 8. GC-MS chromatogram.
Fig 9
Fig 9. FTIR of biosurfactant produced by Gordonia sp. IITR 100.
Fig 10
Fig 10. NMR of biosurfactant produced by Gordonia sp. IITR 100.
(A) H1 NMR (B) C13 NMR.
Fig 11
Fig 11. Structure of biosurfactant produced by Gordonia sp. IITR100.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Desai JD, Banat IM. Microbial production of surfactants and their commercial potential. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 1997;61(1):47–64. doi: 10.1128/mmbr.61.1.47-64.1997 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Youssef NH, Duncan KE, Nagle DP, Savage KN, Knapp RM, McInerney MJ. Comparison of methods to detect biosurfactant production by diverse microorganisms. J Microbiol Methods. 2004;56(3):339–47. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2003.11.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Banat IM. Biosurfactants production and possible uses in microbial enhanced oil recovery and oil pollution remediation: a review. Bioresour Technol. 1995;51(1):1–12.
    1. Cooper DG, Goldenberg BG. Surface-active agents from two Bacillus species. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1987;53(2):224–9. doi: 10.1128/aem.53.2.224-229.1987 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Banat IM, Satpute SK, Cameotra SS, Patil R, Nyayanit NV. Cost effective technologies and renewable substrates for biosurfactants’ production. Front Microbiol. 2014;5:697. Epub 2015/01/08. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00697 ; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4264478. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types