Effect of Microgravity on Fungistatic Activity of an α-Aminophosphonate Chitosan Derivative against Aspergillus niger

Kesavan Devarayan; Yesupatham Sathishkumar; Yang Soo Lee; Byoung-Suhk Kim

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139303

Effect of Microgravity on Fungistatic Activity of an α-Aminophosphonate Chitosan Derivative against Aspergillus niger

PLoS One. 2015 Oct 15;10(10):e0139303. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139303. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Kesavan Devarayan¹, Yesupatham Sathishkumar², Yang Soo Lee², Byoung-Suhk Kim³

Affiliations

¹ Department of BIN Convergence Technology, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea; Department of Basic Sciences, College of Fisheries Engineering, Tamil Nadu Fisheries University, Nagapattinam, India.
² Department of Forest Science and Technology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Organic Materials & Fiber Engineering, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea; Department of BIN Convergence Technology, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Biocontamination within the international space station is ever increasing mainly due to human activity. Control of microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria are important to maintain the well-being of the astronauts during long-term stay in space since the immune functions of astronauts are compromised under microgravity. For the first time control of the growth of an opportunistic pathogen, Aspergillus niger, under microgravity is studied in the presence of α-aminophosphonate chitosan. A low-shear modelled microgravity was used to mimic the conditions similar to space. The results indicated that the α-aminophosphonate chitosan inhibited the fungal growth significantly under microgravity. In addition, the inhibition mechanism of the modified chitosan was studied by UV-Visible spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. This work highlighted the role of a bio-based chitosan derivative to act as a disinfectant in space stations to remove fungal contaminants.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antifungal Agents / chemical synthesis
Antifungal Agents / chemistry*
Antifungal Agents / pharmacology*
Aspergillus niger / drug effects*
Chitosan / analogs & derivatives*
Chitosan / chemical synthesis
Chitosan / chemistry*
Chitosan / pharmacology
Hyphae / drug effects
Organophosphonates / chemical synthesis
Organophosphonates / chemistry*
Organophosphonates / pharmacology*
Spacecraft
Weightlessness / adverse effects*

Substances

Antifungal Agents
N-(p-dimethylaminobenzyl) dimethyl-alpha-aminophosphonate chitosan
Organophosphonates
Chitosan

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (1301001076 and 1401001209) and financially supported by the Brain Korea 21 PLUS Project, NRF. This work was also supported by the Basic Research Laboratory Program (2014R1A4A1008140) through the Ministry of Science, ICT& Future Planning and by the Robot industrial cluster construction program through the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE). This research was also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant No. 1201002578 funded by the Korean Government and Sathish Kumar was supported by university research grants from Chonbuk National University.