Unveiling the potential of novel Metschnikowia yeast biosurfactants: triggering oxidative stress for promising antifungal and anticancer activity

Sophorolipids are glycolipid biosurfactants with potential antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer applications, rendering them promising for research. Therefore, this study hypothesizes that sophorolipids may have a notable impact on disrupting membrane integrity and triggering the production of reactive oxygen species, ultimately resulting in the eradication of pathogenic microbes. The current study resulted in the isolation of two Metschnikowia novel yeast strains. Sophorolipids production from these strains reached maximum yields of 23.24 g/l and 21.75 g/l, respectively, at the bioreactors level. Biosurfactants sophorolipids were characterized using FTIR and LC–MS techniques and found to be a mixture of acidic and lactonic forms with molecular weights of m/z 678 and 700. Our research elucidated sophorolipids’ mechanism in disrupting bacterial and fungal membranes through ROS generation, confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and FACS analysis. The results showed that these compounds disrupted the membrane integrity and induced ROS production, leading to cell death in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Fusarium solani. In addition, the anticancer properties of sophorolipids were investigated on the A549 lung cancer cell line and found that sophorolipid-11D (SL-11D) and sophorolipid-11X (SL-11X) disrupted the actin cytoskeleton, as evidenced by immunofluorescence microscopy. The A549 cells were stained with Acridine orange/Ethidium bromide, which showed that they underwent necrosis. This was confirmed by flow cytometric analysis using Annexin/PI staining. The SL-11D and SL-11X molecules exhibited low levels of haemolytic activity and in-vitro cytotoxicity in HEK293, Caco-2, and L929 cell lines. In this work, novel yeast species CIG-11DT and CIG-11XT, isolated from the bee’s gut, produce significant yields of sophorolipids without needing secondary oil sources, indicating a more economical production method. Our research shows that sophorolipids disrupt bacterial and fungal membranes via ROS production. They suggest they may act as chemo-preventive agents by inducing apoptosis in lung cancer cells, offering the potential for enhancing anticancer therapies.