New reports on anti-bacterial and anti-candidal activities of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) obtained from Scenedesmus bijugatus var. bicellularis biomass

The present study evaluates the efficiency of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) obtained from microalgal (Scenedesmus bijugatus var bicellularis) biomass as an antimicrobial agent against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The FAME profiles were determined through Gas Chromatography (GC) with a Flame Ionization detector (FID). The FAMEs showed inhibitory activity against all three microorganisms and thereby exhibited both anti-bacterial and anti-candidal activity. GC-FID analysis reveals about 30 different FAMEs. Out of these, various pharmacologically active FAMEs like stearic acid methyl ester (C18:0) (0.6% w/w), oleic acid methyl ester (C18:1) (1% w/w), linoleic acid methyl ester (C18:2) (1.40% w/w), linolenic acid methyl ester (C18:3) (6.26%), eicosapentanoic acid methyl ester (C20:5) (1.13% w/w), erucic acid methyl ester (C22:1) (1.03% w/w) and docosahexenoic acid methyl ester (C22:6) (2.27% w/w) were detected, which accounted for the bioactivity. These results clearly indicate that the FAMEs of S. bijugatus var. bicellularis have strong antimicrobial properties and could thus be used as an effective source against microbial diseases.