Antibacterial and toxicity evaluation of C-phycocyanin and cell extract of filamentous freshwater cyanobacterium – Westiellopsis sps

K.G. Sabarinathan1, G. Ganesan2

1 Research trainee, CoValence Inc. USA
2 Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, India

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• Pharmacology

Abstract. – In this study the culture filtrate and C-phycocyanin obtained from filamentous fresh water cyanobacterium Westiellopsis sps were tested for their antibacterial activity against three different bacterial cultures: Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas sps and Xanthomonas sps. The growth of all bacterial strains tested was inhibited by the culture filtrate and C-phycocyanin. The diameter of inhibition zones varied from 1.3 to 13.2 mm and from 2.2 to 13.1 mm for the culture filtrate and C-phycocyanin, respectively. It is therefore suggested that extracts from the Westiellopsis sps could be used traditionally in the treatment of bacterial infections. Bioassay studies of silkworm showed that there was no symptom of ill health after feeding the phycocyanin treated leaves and the body weight and silk gland weight of the silkworm increased with range of 65.0-102.6 mg and 209-240 mg respectively compared to the control.

Corresponding Author: K.G. Sabarinathan, MD; e-mail: sabarimicro@hotmail.com