Biological activity of the red alga Laurencia brandenii

摘要

The marine red alga Laurencia brandenii collected from the southwest coastudof India (Indian Ocean) was extracted and fractioned using column chromatography. Theudindividual fractions were evaluated in vitro via antimicrobial activity against six speciesudof Microbial Type Culture Collection and three species of clinical human pathogens,udantipest activity on Sitophilus oryzae, maggoticidal activity against 2nd instar larvae ofudSarcophaga sp. and termiticidal activity against Microtermes obesi. It was found that theudfraction eluted using petroleum ether:chloroform (6:4) exhibited broader biological activities.udThe phyco-constituents of the active fraction were identified by gas chromatography-ud-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The GC-MS profile of the active fraction revealedudthat the main constituent was octadecadienoic acid (49.75%) followed by n-hexadecanoicudacid (14.24%), which might have a functional role in the biological activities. The overalludactivity profile envisages that these bioactive compounds from L. brandenii could be utilizedudas a renewable natural resource for the development of novel environmental-compatibleudformulations for the control of human pathogens, pests, termites and maggots.