Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of pigment extracted from locally isolated actinobacteria

Natural alternatives to synthetic pigments are gaining attention due to health and environmental concerns. Utilizing microorganisms for pigment production provides multiple advantages, such as the durability of the pigments, the accessibility of cultivation techniques, the simplicity of downstream processing, and the cost-efficiency. Actinobacteria-sourced pigments show great potential in various biological fields. This study focused on isolating pigmented actinobacteria to explore their potential production and applications. Four pigmented actinobacteria were isolated from soil samples, they were identified as members from the streptomyces group based on their macro and micro morphological criteria. Pigments were extracted from each of them using different solvents of varying polarities. The pigment extracts showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus (ATTC 29213), B. cereus (ATTC 10876) and Enterococcus sp. Additionally, the pigment extracts showed free radical scavenging activity against DPPH. Further studies need to be done to characterize the pigment production and the possible applications in the field of textile industry.