Abstract
The bacterial secondary metabolite prodigiosin is known to possess some exceptional features that include its role as antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, anticancer, antimalarial, insecticidal, immunosuppressive, antidiabetic, and antiprotozoal. Besides, this bright red-hued pigment is also a potent biodye and a worthy replacement to the synthetic dyes which otherwise create havoc due to its non-biodegradable nature. However, the biosynthesis of this multifaceted compound is limited by its high-production cost and poor yield, which is largely due to the requirement of expensive commercial growth media. Therefore, devising formulations using cheaper raw materials that yet deliver the same or even better nutritive values is the need of the hour to promote bioproduction. In this study, soybean meal was primarily utilized as the sole source of nutrition for Serratia marcescens and 8.567 g/L prodigiosin was obtained when 2% w/v soybean meal medium was used which was 5.19-fold higher than the maximum titer achieved in the commercial growth media used in the study. To further enhance prodigiosin biosynthesis, the soybean meal medium was supplemented with sucrose and glycine, the concentration of which was optimized using the Box-Behnken design (BBD) model. Lastly, 9.632 g/L prodigiosin was obtained upon using soybean meal 2.477 % w/v; sucrose 0.864 % w/v; glycine 187.377 mg/L, and incubation time 96 h 2 min, all of which were optimized through the BBD model. The approach provides environment-friendly management, which is cost-effective and supports circular economy.