Utilization of Affordable Natural Substrates for Violacein Production by Chromobacterium violaceum

Beside expanding awareness among the population for natural dyes over the synthetic dyes for environment friendly factors, there is demand for dyes and pigments from natural resources. Natural dyes and pigments can be obtained from various sources like, plants, insects, plant root, tree bark and microorganism. Bacterial pigment (violacein) produced by Chromobacterium violaceum, is highly in demand due to its pharmacological properties. In this study, initially two soil samples were collected from MCRC, Taramani, Chennai. C. violaceum was isolated from soil sample by serial dilution method. Screenings for the effective growth of C. violaceum in natural substrate medium (of low-cost) were performed. C. violaceum produces dark violet pigment called “VIOLACEIN”. As C. violaceum is a slow growing organism, the more days it is kept for incubation the more pigment is produced. Effective natural substrate medium was chosen for growth study. Appropriate solvent system for efficient extraction of violet pigment (violacein) was screened. The pigment is highly soluble in polar organic solvents and insoluble in water and non-polar organic solvents. In this study, ethyl alcohol was screened as suitable solvent for pigment extraction from the natural substrates. It was then employed for further application.