Pigment production from halophilic microorganisms and cell culture applications

Pigments are important compounds with use in different fields. The most common usage areas are medicine, food, livestock, textile, cosmetics industry as additive and color enhancer. Pigments; Although they can also be produced synthetically, they are generally preferred as natural pigments. Within the scope of the master thesis study, it was aimed to determine the pigment production conditions of Haloferax alexandrinus. In this context, ideal salt concentration, temperature and pH conditions were determined for H. alexandrinus pigment production. Different solvents were used for pigment extraction from H. alexandrinus and acetone was found to be the most suitable solvent. TLC, LCMS/MS and NMR techniques were used for the purification and determination of the pigment content. In order to determine the anticancer properties of the obtained carotenoid extract, its cytotoxic effects on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were investigated. For pigment production; MGM-20 broth containing 20% salt was selected as the most suitable medium. When cultural parameters were examined for the highest pigment production in Haloferax alexandrinus; Dark incubation, 120 rpm shaking speed, 37ºC temperature, 7 day incubation and initial pH value of 8 were determined as the most suitable conditions. The IC50 value of the carotenoid extract for SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells was found to be 2 µg/ml. Keywords: Haloferax alexandrinus, Pigment, Mgm-20, Sh-sy5y