INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECT OF SOPHOROLIPID AND ITS DERIVATIVE IMT-C3 ON CELL GROWTH AND MORPHOGENESIS IN CANDIDA SPECIES

Abstract

Sophorolipid (SL) is an emerging class of biosurfactant that explicitly exhibits various applications. Amongst which the therapeutic applications are the most targeted arena for the researchers. SL being a glycolipid biosurfactant proves to be one of the most promising biosurfactant for industrial applications, along with rhamnolipids. In order to check its potency in the prevailing sectors, the antifungal activity of SL and its derivative IMT-C3 was significantly observed following a number of experiments with Candida albicans, along with four others non albicans Candida species. Candida albicans causes life threatening systemic infections, thereby, sometimes is difficult to treat. Thus, it remains the major causative agent for infections. Apart from this, other non albicans Candida species are also becoming prevalent including; Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis and Candida krusei. Immunocompromised patients are highly susceptible to such infections. Various antifungal drugs are being employed to cure the infections but due to their severe toxicity and certain other limitations, there is a paradigm shift to the employment of biosurfactants. Biosurfactants show various properties such as low toxicity, reduction in surface tension, anti-microbial activities and many more. SL produced by Starmerella bombicola is used for the study. This naturally synthesized SL is derived in two forms. i.e., acidic and lactonic form. Lactonic form of SL was used for carrying out the experiments. Due to its less toxicity, SL proves to be a potent candidate for food and pharmaceutical domains. In this study, production, synthesis, purification and characterization of SL and its derivative IMT-C3 was carried out. Antifungal effect of SL was also checked against all the 5 strains of Candida species.