Characterization of Vibriocin and Prospect of Co-Culture Method to Overcome the Diminishing Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

The term ‘Vibriocin’ is specifically indicates the bacteriocin of Vibrio species. The present study reports the screening Vibriocin producing marine bacteria for food and aquaculture application. Out of 40 strains from Clam (Meretrix meretrix) species, screened against eight seafood borne pathogens, two Vibriocin producing bacteria were active against Staphylococcus aureus. Crude Vibriocin of these two isolates were subjected to salting-out for partial purification and exposed to different conditions i.e., pH, temperature and detergent for its antibacterial activity. After few successive subcultures for characterization and bulk production, its antibacterial activity was decreased slowly and exhibited minimal antibacterial activity. Further, when the isolates were co-culture with S. aureus resulting in regain of antibacterial activity. This study revealed that Co-culture method is an appropriate approach to regain the Vibriocin production in Vibrio species and marine environment is a potential source of Vibriocin producing bacteria which can be exploited for various applications such as food preservation and as a probiotic for aquaculture ponds to control the pathogenic bacteria.