Morphotypes and molecular characterisation of pink pigmented bacterial symbiont of Turbinaria sp.

Abstract

Turbinaria sp. is one of the species of the brown algae class that has extraordinary prospects for human health. The potential of the brown algae makes it a target for the search for sources of beneficial bioactive compounds in the pharmaceutical world. However, a serious problem in the development of bioactive compounds from these biotas is the problem of supply, because to obtain a relatively small number of active compounds requires a large number of marine organisms. It was reported that there are associations of microorganisms with brown algae which are thought to synthesize secondary metabolites such as the host organism. The presence of bacteria that is symbiotic with brown algae has made it possible to use these organisms as the main source of bioactive compounds from the marine. KRT-7 isolate is a pink bacterial isolate from the Turbinaria sp. collected from Menjangan Kecil, Karimunjawa Island, Indonesia. This isolate has been known to produce bio pigment and genes coding for its bioactive compounds. However, the physiological morpho character and its molecular identity are unknown. The study aims to determine the morphophysiological character and molecular identification of the prospective isolates. The research results obtained will contribute a scientific finding of the prospect of genetic diversity of Indonesian marine bacterial isolates and their corridor utilization as a source of bioactive compounds.