Bioprospecting of antibacterial metabolites in seaweed associated bacterial flora along the southeast coast of India

Control of the unwanted microorganisms is essential in all aspects of life, and microbial diseases must be treated in humans, animals, and plants. Emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and the need for novel, antimicrobial compounds led to the exploration of new habitats to screen the production of bioactive substances (Gram et al. 2010). Nature provides a treasure-trove of chemicals that can be used in chemical manufacturing processes, or developed into drugs for the treatment of human disease. New environmental niches provide a new source of microbes and potential for novel compound production (Sfanos et al. 2005). Advances in natural product chemistry are expected to rely ever more on interdisciplinary research, and this is particularly important for marine microbial products. The marine environment contains over 80% of world’s plant and animal species (Jha et al. 2004). Marine natural products from the microbes have lagged behind those from macroorganisms. Therefore, marine microorganisms deserve more and more organized attention by the natural products chemists (Pietra 1997). Marine microorganisms are valuable resources due to the production of a wide range of natural products with potential biotechnological and pharmaceutical application (Gram et al. 2010). Antibiotic production by marine bacteria has been documented for a long time. However, there is a paucity of information dealing with the isolation and purification of the active inhibitory substances (Barja et al. 1989)