PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF GRACILARIA OPUNTIA: AN IMPORTANT ANTI-DIABETIC RED MARINE MACROALGAE

Objective: Microorganisms have developed resistance to existing available antibiotics, thereby thriving to anemerging need for new generation of antibiotics. Since seaweeds provide a rich source of bioactive molecules,the present study aimed to investigate its anti-microbial potential against clinically important microorganism.Methods: Redseaweed namelyGracilaria opuntia collected from different coastal regions of Gulf of Mannar and Rameswaram, India was used. For microbiological testing of the seaweed extracts, agar disc diffusion methodwas used.Results: The zone of inhibition was measured for all the different crude algal extracts against strains ofmicroorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonasputidathat cause diseases in diabetic patients. Crude extracts prepared from aqueous, ethanol and methanol extraction procedures revealed that aqueous extraction procedure have a wide range of antimicrobial activity against all thetest pathogens.Conclusion: The overall antibacterial activity assessed from the above results indicates the presence of activeconstituents in the extractions of seaweeds which can be explored for the production of significant moleculeswhich could be used in pharmaceutical industry