Antimicrobial Activity of Biosurfactants

Biosurfactant has antibiological activities. Due to its low toxicity, biosurfactant can be applied to human health care products. Posseing the antibiological activities as well as the surfactant properties implies that biosurfactant can be widely used in the cosmetic industry. In this presentation, applications of biosurfactant have been reviewed including the antimicrobial activities of sophorolipid. Sophorolipid, a biosurfactant produced from Candida bombicola ATCC 22214, showed antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus xylosus, Streptococcus mutans, and Propionibacterium acne at 4, 1, 1, 0.5 ppm as MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration). Also 100 ppm of sophorolipid inhibited 50% of cell growth of plant pathogenic fungus, B. cinera. However, sophorolipid showed no effect on the Escherichia coli., indicating its selective antimicrobial activity depending on the cell wall structure. Treatment of B. subtilis with sophorolipid increased the leakage of intracellular enzyme, malate dehydrogenase, indicating the possible interaction of sophorolipid with cellular membrane. Between lactone-type and acid-type sophorolipid, the former showed higher antimicrobial activity.