Effects of Temperature and Solvents on the Stability of Algicidal Agent Prodigiosin

Abstract

To develop prodigiosin as biological control agent against Chattonella antiqua, a harmful alga that can cause red tides, selection of an organic solvent for prodigiosin extraction from culture broth and a test to determine the stability of prodigiosin were performed. Prodigiosin was extracted using nine solvents, and extracts were analyzed by LC-MS. Acetone was selected as the best organic solvent because of its high extraction efficiency and less process time. Stability tests for progidiosin were performed at various temperatures, and algicidal activity against C. antiqua was also tested. Ultimately, more than 98% stability was sustained after 30 days at 4℃, and less than 30% stability was maintained after 30 days at 37℃. More than 5~14% of the algicidal activity of prodigiosin extracted with acetone was sustained at each temperature, when compared with the prodigiosin extracted with ethanol. Although prodigiosin was kept for 30 days in an optimum organic solvent, the stability of prodigiosin was safely maintained and algicidal activity was sustained at low temperatures such as 4℃. Considering these results, we know that acetone was a very useful extraction agent for the extraction of prodigiosin as a biological control agent. [This work was supported by grants from the Korea Polar Research Institute (PE11060 and PN07020).]