Abstract

Mounia YOUCEF-ALI*, Noreddine KACEM CHAOUCHE, Laid DEHIMAT, Insaf BATAICHE , Mounira KARA ALI, Hélène CAWOY and Philippe THONART

The soil bacteria, CWBI-B1567 and CWBI-B1568, isolated from arid regions and identified as Bacillus subtilis (accession number KC341751) and Bacillus mojavensis (accession number KC341749) respectively, were screened and evaluated for their antifungal activity against Candida albicans, one of the most important human fungal pathogens. In vitro assay with the antagonists and their cell-free culture supernatants on agar plates showed that the two Bacillus strains effectively inhibited growth of the yeast. The capacity of these Bacillus strains to produce the cell-wall degrading enzymes was further studied. B. subtilis and B. mojavensis are able to produce cellulase and protease, but not chitinase. Bioactive molecules were produced by B. subtilis CWBI-B1567 and B. mojavensis CWBI-B1568 in a liquid culture medium optimised for lipopeptide production. The antifungal activity was equally demonstrated by testing the resulting supernatants and lipopeptide-enriched extracts. The electro-spray mass spectrometry coupled to liquid chromatography (ESI-LC-MS) analysis showed that both the B. subtilis and the B. mojavensis produced surfactin and iturin. However the fengycin group was produced only by B. mojavensis. Through this study, we have demonstrated that B. subtilis and B. mojavensis have a strong antifungal activity especially against C. albicans. This growth inhibition is probably due to the production of cell-wall degrading enzymes and different families of lipopeptide including iturins, fengycins and surfactins.