title: Production of melanin pigment from Pseudomonas stutzeri isolated from red seaweed Hypnea musciformis.
abstract: Hypnea musciformis red seaweed is popularly known to produce carrageenan was collected from the Gulf of Mannar, India. Strain HMGM-7 [MTCC 11712] was isolated from the surface of this seaweed, which was capable of producing an extracellular black-coloured polymeric pigment. Based on phenotypic characterization and 16S rDNA sequencing, the strain HMGM-7 was identified as Pseudomonas stutzeri. Biophysical characterization by UV-visible, FT-IR, EPR and XRD spectroscopic studies confirmed the pigment as melanin. Further chemical characterization showed that it was acid-resistant, alkali-soluble and alkali-insoluble in most of the organic solvents and distilled water. To our knowledge, this is a first report on a marine Pseudomonas stutzeri strain producing significant amounts of melanin of about 6·7 g l(-1) without L-tyrosine supplementation in the sea-water production medium.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This investigation reports a marine Pseudomonas stutzeri strain HMGM-7 [MTCC 11712] that produces significant quantities of melanin (6·7 g l(-1) ) in sea-water medium without the supplementation of L-tyrosine. The confirmation of the produced melanin was carried out by various chemical and physical characterization studies. The isolated melanin may find potential application for use in cosmetic and/or pharmaceutical industries.
authors.affiliation: Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology Division, Chemical Biology Laboratory, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ganesh Kumar
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sahu
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Narender Reddy
authors.forename: R B N
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagesh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kamal
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008543:Melanins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D044223:Pseudomonas stutzeri / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology; D012624:Seaweed / Q000382:microbiology*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins; D014443:Tyrosine
keywords: Hypnea musciformis; Pseudomonas stutzeri; antioxidant; kojic acid; melanin