Antimicrobial Action of Compounds from Marine Seaweed

Abstract

Seaweed produces metabolites aiding in the protection against different environmental stresses. These compounds show antiviral, antiprotozoal, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. Macroalgae can be cultured in high volumes and would represent an attractive source of potential compounds useful for unconventional drugs able to control new diseases or multiresistant strains of pathogenic microorganisms. The substances isolated from green, brown and red algae showing potent antimicrobial activity belong to polysaccharides, fatty acids, phlorotannins, pigments, lectins, alkaloids, terpenoids and halogenated compounds. This review presents the major compounds found in macroalga showing antimicrobial activities and their most promising applications.

Effect of Red Seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii on Growth, Survival, and Disease Resistance of Pacific White Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei Against Vibrio harveyi in the Nursery Phase

“…The use of 15 g kg -1 seaweed diet contributed to up to 10% higher survival after Vibrio challenge compared to the challenged control group, which may have been resulted from the higher level of fatty acids (especially the polyunsaturated fatty acids) in the seaweed diet. It has been suggested by several studies that seaweed or macroalgae provide a great variety of metabolites and natural bioactive compounds with antimicrobial activity, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, polysaccharides, phlorotannins and other phenolic compounds, and carotenoids [12][13][14][15][16]. Similar results in protection of shrimp from Vibrio infection due to %utilization was also reported by Siegel and Weiser [18], where the seaweed extract (with the bioactive compounds including alcohols, phenols, alkenes, esters and ethers) was found to have antagonism effect against luminescence disease causing Vibrio harveyi during shrimp Penaeus monodon larviculture, possibly by reducing the exopolysaccharide and protease produced by V. harveyi that play a key role in developing infections among the shrimps.…”

“…The antibacterial activity of Kappaphycus alvarezii was reported against animal borne bacterial pathogens [3]. It has been suggested by several studies that seaweed or macroalgae provide a great variety of metabolites and natural bioactive compounds with antimicrobial activity, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, polysaccharides, phlorotannins and other phenolic compounds, and carotenoids [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Recently, Sakthivel et al [17] reported that the application of red seaweed by-product paste through enrichment on live food Artemia nauplii can enhance the shrimp growth and resistance against salinity stress and Vibrio infection in white shrimp culture during the hatchery phase.…”

Control of Fusarium Dry Rot Incited by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. tuberosi Using Sargassum vulgare Aqueous and Organic Extracts

“…Numerous studies have also demonstrated the effectiveness of organic extracts in extracting secondary metabolites with antifungal activities against various soil borne plant pathogens compared to water-based procedures [24,33]. In fact, Pérez et al [43] reported that the yield of extractable antimicrobials from the different seaweed species is solvent-dependent. Lee et al [44] found that S. thumbergi water extract (used at 4 mg/ml) did not show any antimicrobial activity contrarily to the ethanolic extract which was found to be very active.…”

In Vitro Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Chaetomorpha antennina against Biofilm and Beta Lactamase Producing Food Isolates

“…Among the marine organisms, the macro algae (seaweeds) occupy a special site as a source of beneficial substances which are active againstto bacteria, fungi, virus and cancer (Perez et al, 2016). Among the macroalgae, Chlorophyceae members have a number of beneficial activities such as antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial and antifungal, especially, Chaetomorpha antennina has potential activity (Manchu et al, 2015).…”