Abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF EXTRACTS OF SPIDER WEB SILK

Zafar Iqbal*, Maham Liaqat, Arifa Shoukat, M Usman Sabri and Mubeen Akhtar

Abstract

Spider silk extracts in in various solvents with different polarities were prepared and antibacterial and antifungal actives were carried out. Four bacterial strain bacillus subtillus, staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and pseudomonas aeruginosa and four fungal strains including pencillum digitatum, aspergilus niger, fusarium solani and aspergillus flavus were used while ampicillin 1000μg/ml and nystatin (8μg/ml) were used as control in anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activities respectively. Spider silk did not show any activity against P. digitatum and A.flavus. But different extracts of spider silk resulted different activities against Fusarium solani and Aspergillus Niger. The maximum antimicrobial activity of spider silk extract was measured in acetone against B.subtilis, in ethyl acetate against E.coli, in methanol against P.aeruginosa and in ethyl acetate against S.aureus at 24 hour.

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