Isolation and characterization of phthalates from Brevibacterium mcbrellneri that cause cytotoxicity and cell cycle arrest.

Bacteria belonging to the family Brevibacterieae are ubiquitous Gram positive organisms that are responsible for the feet odour and cheese aroma. is a relatively new member belonging to Brevibacterieae. In the current manuscript we discuss isolation of biologically active metabolites from . Two aromatic esters were isolated from by "Bioassay guided fractionation strategy" and identified as di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and dibutyl phthalate by chemical characterization using biophysical techniques. The phthalate compounds show broad spectrum antibacterial activity and mosquito larvicidal activity. Mosquito larvicidal activity has been attributed to inhibition of acetylcholinesterase enzyme activity. These compounds were found to be cytotoxic in multiple cell lines causing cell cycle arrest in G1 phase.