Biochemical studies on active metabolites of sponge-and coral-associated fungi in-vivo and in-vitro

Abstract

Red sea was recognized as a rich source of microbial diversity with unique metabolites. Marine fungi are known to produce a great variety of secondary metabolites with unique chemical structures that have appealing bioactivities. The present study was aimed to screen for different biological activities in Sponge and Soft corals associated fungi of the Red Sea coast at Hurghada and evaluate the effect of media composition on the production of active secondary metabolite. In this context, four marine sponge and coral associated fungi [Aspergillus sydowii SP52-EGY, Aspergillus tamarii SP73-EGY, Aspergillus sp. 2C1-EGY and Aspergillus ungusSPMD-EGY] were isolated, identified and registered in Gene Bank. Applying the OSMAC (One Strain Many Compounds) technique in this study, the four isolated fungi were grown on four different media (A,B,C &D) under shake and static conditions and the different biological activities (antimicrobial, antioxidant, enzyme inhibitors and anticancer activity) of the crude ethyl acetate extracts of secondary metabolites were evaluated. The extracts of the four fungi demonstrated variable biological activity in-vitro assays.