The Influence of Two Macroalgae (Article Sample)

Antimicrobial effect of two different species of macroalgae from Persian Gulf against one infectious bacteria
Introduction
Persian Gulf is the sea of south of Iran and its popular city is Bandar Abbas. During vacations and holidays I go there and visit my family, but due to the COVID pandemic, we lived there and I have participated my IB classes via online classes. During summer, we have always witnessed a bloom of red color over the sea from a certain view, and I was always wondering what would be the reason. I thought the reason could be water pollution, but according to some researches, that was not the case. I have found out that macroalgae was the reason of red discoloration of the sea. Macroalgae are part of the algae family and they vary in form and size. Some types of macroalgae can be useful to be used as medicines to prevent certain bacterial growth, which they can be capable of harming humans. The types of the macroalgae also vary. For instance, the macroalgae that made a red discoloration in the Persian Gulf was first seen in January 2007, and it was Cochlodinium Polykrikoides, (Moezzi et al., 2017). This kind of species is a red tide species which has the ability to produce toxic chemicals that can harm and even kill fish in the sea, they also spread fast, in view of the fact that these tiny organisms are motile. However, as mentioned previously, some macroalgae are useful as being used as medicine. I have been fascinated and found this topic very useful for my biology IA. Since macroalgae can be used as drug, as mentioned previously, I have decided to also calculate the MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration), to find what is the least concentration of macroalgae needed in order to eliminate bacteria in human body, this is why I have chosen this as my research question: “What are the MICs of Ulva Lactuca macroalgae and Colpomenia Sinuosa macroalgae when preventing the growth of Vibrio Parahaemolyticus infectious bacteria?”. The MIC is the minimum inhibitory concentration of a solution, the reason as to why this is important is because the less we use the available concentration of a useful material, the more savings have been made. In this project we will be going to focus on two macroalgae, Ulva Lactuca and Colpomenia Sinuosa, and the infectious bacteria, Vibrio Parahaemolyticus.
Background information
The infectious bacteria, Vibrio Parahaemolyticus, is a gram-negative bacterium that can be found free living in brackish and estuarine waters and requires salinity for survival. This bacteria is capable of causing three distinct medical issues: wound infections, septicemia and gastroenteritis, (Broberg et al., 2011), and when ingested by human, it can cause illness, such as gastroenteritis, (Raimondi et al., 2000; Lang et al., 2004). One of the factors that makes this bacteria dangerous, is the presence of TDH (Thermostable direct hemoslyin) and TDHrelated-hemolysin (TRH). These are two virulence factors that are associated with Vibrio Parahaemolyticus, (Broberg et al., 2011; Letchumanan et al., 2014). It is mentioned that when the strains are isolated from environmental samples, then there is a lack of the virulence genes. However, studies from US, EU and Asia have reported that around 0-6% of environmental samples have Vibrio Parahaemolyticus strains with the presence of (TRH) and (TDH) genes, which can affect human health in a negative way, (Kaysner et al., 1990; DePaola et al., 2000; Vuddhakul et al., 2000; Jahangir Alam et al., 2002; Hervio-Heath et al., 2002; Letchumanan et al., 2014). The bacteria can interact with the healthy human host cell, and when adhered, it causes secretion of toxic materials. The MAM7 (Multivalent Adhesion Molecule 7) makes the bacteria capable of interacting and adhering with the cell. The MAM7 is a bacterial outer membrane protein that causes the interaction, and it can be found in many gram-negative bacteria. The MAM7 is constitutively expressed, which makes the bacteria to bind more accurately and faster to the host cell. One of the factors that can prevent the cell adhesion is blocking both fibronectin and phosphatidic acid, they can get inhibited, (Letchumanan et al., 2014). This pathogen is also capable of effecting erythrocytes of human by cytotoxic activities, this occurs by the production of haemolysin, (Sakurai et al., 1976; Lang et al., 2004), and can affect human health negatively.