A Newly Isolated Pseudomonas sp., Epibiotic on the Seaweed, Padina tetrastromatica, off Southeastern Coast of India, Reveals Antibacterial Action

Epibionts from the red (Hypnea valentiae) and brown seaweeds (Padina tetrastromatica) were rapidly isolated on Zobell agar medium. All the isolates from both the seaweeds (76 numbers) were tested against five human pathogens which were resistant to at least one of the commercially available antibiotics at a minimal concentration of 10 mg. The most antibiotic productive isolate (PT19) from Padina tetrastromatica was extracted and observed to inhibit Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with zone sizes of 15 and 10 mm radius, respectively, at a concentration of 300 mu g. Further, a direct bioautography was done and an inhibition was witnessed against the aforementioned pathogens even at 2 mu g concentration around three spots (R (f) values 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8). Preparative thin-layer chromatography yielded a yellow sticky compound (6 mg) which was identified as an alkaloid. The compound on reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography analysis yielded two major and two minor peaks with retention times, 3.1, 4.2, 4.7, and 4.9 min, respectively. The antibacterial compound was recorded 96.6 % pure, and the producer strain was identified as Pseudomonas sp. To our knowledge, we are the first to isolate and identify Pseudomonas from Padina tetrastromatica producing antibacterial alkaloids. This study will pave way for exploring more bacterial load from the said algal groups for bioactivities.