Identification of ethylparaben as the antimicrobial substance produced by Brevibacillus brevis FJAT-0809-GLX

In this study, crude antimicrobial extract from the culture supernatant of Brevibacillus brevis FJAT-0809-GLX was extracted, and its antimicrobial activity was investigated with the agar diffusion method. The results showed that the antimicrobial activity of the culture supernatant of B. brevis FJAT-0809-GLX increased with the extension of the incubation time of B. brevis FJAT-0809-GLX. The antimicrobial spectrum assays showed that this crude antimicrobial extract from culture supernatant of B. brevis FJAT-0809-GLX could inhibit the growth of both bacteria and fungi. A heat stability test was performed, and different temperatures (30°C, 50°C and 70°C) did not affect the antibiotic activity of this crude antimicrobial extract. The crude antimicrobial extract was also tolerable to changes in pH levels. Its antibiotic activity against Escherichia coli was stable at pH 1 to pH 11, with zone sizes ranging from 18.46mm to 22.19mm. Almost all of the crude extracts extracted using different solvents showed variable degrees of inhibition zones against E. coli, with zone sizes ranging from 17.29mm to 19.62mm, except petroleum ether and butanol extracts, which were found to be completely inactive. Purification of the antimicrobial components was carried out using a column chromatographic technique with column chromatography grade silica gel and analyzed by an Agilent 7890A Network GC system. The separated compound was identified as ethylparaben, with a retention time of 21.980min and a relative amount of 95.50%. The antimicrobial activity of ethylparaben on different types of bacteria and fungi was investigated, and ethylparaben was shown to inhibit different types of microbes to different extents. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating that the bacterium B. brevis could produce ethylparaben.