Antimicrobial screening of marine endophytes and epiphytes isolated from marine algae of Kenyan Indian Ocean

Abstract

Marine algae have been known to produce secondary metabolites used in the pharmaceutical industry to treat various human diseases. This study embarked on the isolation of microbes associated with the marine algae and explores their potential as sources of antimicrobial agents that can be used in the production of drugs to treat the emerging and re-merging resistant human pathogens. The associated microbes that is, endophytes and epiphytes were isolated from different red, green and brown marine algae species which were collected from Mkomani Island in Mombasa Kenya. Eight hundred and thirty isolates were isolated of which three hundred and six were endophytes while five hundred and twenty four were epiphytes. Antimicrobial screening showed that two hundred and thirty isolates (28%) exhibited antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25922, Escherichia Coli ATCC 25923 and Candida albicans ATCC 90028. Most isolates showed inhibition activity against Escherichia Coli (47%). Inhibition against Candida albicans was 33% whereas for Staphylococcus aureus was 21%. The results reveal that marine algae harbor microbes that are potential producers of antimicrobial compounds that need to be investigated further for their pharmaceutical and biotechnological potential.