Chroococcus turigidus, a novel cyanobacterial source for l-sparaginase production

The anti-leukemic drug enzyme L-asparaginase is highly sought for its potential in treating various solid tumors; as well as its application in food production for mitigation of the carcinogenic acrylamide. Marine microalgae are well known for their diverse bioactive products and ease of cultivation, making them ideal candidates for large-scale production. Seven marine microalgae were isolated based on their L-asparaginase production, and the isolate Chroococcus turigidus was identified as the highest producer, yielding 212.413 IU/ml. The in-vitro anticancer activity of the algal extract was evaluated against breast carcinoma (MDA) and hepatoma (HepG-2) cell lines with comparison to normal human skin fibroblast (HSF) cell lines. The IC₅₀ values of the algal extract against HSF cells were Determined to be 844.4 and 730.5 µg/mL after 24 h and 48 h of treatment, while low IC₅₀ values of 126.3 and 169.8 µg/mL were observed with selectivity indices (SI) of 6.69 and 4.97 respectively. The results demonstrated that, HepG-2 cells exhibited slightly greater sensitivity to the treatment compared to MDA cells. These findings suggested that Chroococcus turigidus could serve as a novel and abundant source of L-asparaginase enzyme and is well-suited for biomass production. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on L-asparaginase production from Chroococcus turigidus.