Purification and molecular and biological characterisation of the 1-hydroxyphenazine, produced by an environmental strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa —an opportunistic pathogen, perhaps best known for chronic lung infections, produces wide range of pigments that possess specific activities which either assist the organism’s survival or bring about changes within host. A similar blue-green diffusible pigment producing P. aeruginosa was isolated from dug-well water, so as to extract 1-hydroxyphenazine from its crude pigment. The compound was purified from the crude pigment using column chromatography followed by a preparative thin layer chromatography that showed a single yellow spot. Further molecular characterisation of the purified component was carried out using UV–Vis spectrophotometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy which showed respective peaks corresponding to 1-hydroxyphenazine. Biological characterisation using in vitro assays revealed that 1-hydroxyphenazine showed anti-bacterial activity only against Bacillus sp. and a concentration of 30 µg/ml induced noticeable morphological alteration in A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells followed by cell death after 48 h. Thus, such active components within bacterial pigments can be characterized and used as possible anti-bacterial or anti-cancer agents.