BIOPOTENTIAL OF SELECTED MACROALGAE FROM KILAKARAI COASTAL REGION IN GULF OF MANNAR, TAMIL NADU, INDIA

Marine macroalgae are the extraordinary source of bioactive substances. In the present research, we used four macroalgae (i.e., Sargassum wightii, Sargassum muticum, Ulva lactuca and Ulva fasciata), extracted in five solvents (i.e., Chloroform, methanol, ethanol, acetone and butanol) and tested for their antimicrobial activity against five different human pathogens (i.e., Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumonia). All the extracts, in particular, brown macroalgae (S. wightii) extracted in Butanol, Chloroform and Acetone exhibited the significant level of antimicrobial and larvicidal activity respectively. In particularly, S. wightii has an excellent source of larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefaciatus significantly. This study established acetone extracts of S. wightii (brown macroalgae) were highly effective, against bacteria. In future, investigation may help to recognize the bioactive compounds from the brown algae species