Original Research Paper Antimicrofouling properties of chosen marine plants: An eco-friendly approach to restrain marine microfoulers S. Prakash a,1,n , N.K. Ahila b , V. Sri Ramkumar b,d , J. Ravindran c , E. Kannapiran b,1,nn a Research Institute, SRM University, Kattankulathur 603203, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu, India b Department of Zoology, DDE, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 600003, Tamil Nadu, India c CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre, Dr Salim Ali Road, PB. no.1913, Kochi 682018, India d Department of Environmental Biotechnology, School of Environmental Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620024, Tamil Nadu, India article info Article history: Received 11 September 2014 Received in revised form 7 November 2014 Accepted 11 November 2014 Keywords: Marine biofilm bacteria Seaweeds Seagrasses Antimicrofouling Cytotoxicity Antifouling abstract Biofouling is a panic issue in the marine environment where the major perpetrator is the biofilm forming microbial cells like bacterial groups. Hence, the present study was focused to study the diversity and density of marine biofilm forming bacteria on different experimental panels immersed in Palk Bay region. The results are inferred that the density and distribution of biofilm forming bacterial groups were significantly (P o0.05) varied, whereas the Pseudomonas spp. (15.78–22.22%) had maximum distribution in the immersed all the test panels. The current antifouling paints create toxic effects on non-target organisms. Of late, natural products were replaced with current toxic antifouling problems. In the present study, the four marine plants viz. two seaweeds (Sarconema furcellatum, Sargassum wightii) species and two seagrasses (Syringodium isoetifolium, Cymodocea serrulata) species were selected to screen their antimicrofouling activity. From this, the crude acetone extract of S. furcellatum exhibited the good antimicrofouling activity over the other marine plant extracts against test microfoulers; anti- bacterial (7 70.16 to 13 70.26 mm) with least concentration of MIC and MBC values (12.5–25 mg/ml and 25–50 mg/ml), antimicroalgal (50–300 mg/ml) and Artemia cytotoxicity (LC 50 133.88 mg/ml; P o0.001) and anticrustacen activity was significantly (P o0.05) increased mortality with increasing test concen- trations of crude extracts. Also, phytochemical studies of the four marine plants revealed the presence of chemical constituents such as flavanoids, alkaloids, phenols and sugars. Further studies on the purification and identification of active compounds from S. furcellatum might help to characterize the nature of eco-friendly antifouling compounds filed study. & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The undesirable formation of biotic deposits on artificial or natural surface systems immersed in seawater is called biofouling, and this is currently one of the most imperative tribulations in the offshore marine establishment (Callow, 1986; Gerhart et al., 1988). Chief fouling communities which play a signi ficant role in the fouling cycle are aquatic bacteria, unicellular microalgae such as diatoms and cyano- bacteria (Qian et al., 2007). These ubiquitous microfouling members attach to the immersed surface by complex biochemical glue called Extracellular Polysaccharide Substances (EPS) (Salta et al., 2013). Microfouling plays a critical role in the settlement of macrofoulers like macroalgae larvae of barnacle, mollusks, bryozoans, polychaetes, tunicates, coelenterates etc. The formation and attachment of micro and macrofouling communities are influenced by environmental factors and surface nature of immersed substrata (Immanuel et al., 2005). Biofouling creates problems such as surface alternation, speed reduction and increase in fuel consumption of ships, corrosion, weight increase and distortion of the initial configuration of sub- merged man-made structures (Schultz, 2007), damage the aquacul- ture equipments and cause disease in fish and shell fishes communities (Fitridge et al., 2012). All these problems lead to a huge economic loss. As a result, commercial antifoulants came in to market to manage the problems of fouling. But, they are found to affect the nontarget aquatic organisms (Konstantinou and Albanis, 2004; Zhou et al., 2006) and it has also been recognized as the global environmental problem since they cause marine pollution. For Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bab Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2014.11.002 1878-8181/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. nn Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: alagaprakash@gmail.com (S. Prakash), ekannapiran@gmail.com (E. Kannapiran). 1 These authors contributed equally. Please cite this article as: Prakash, S., et al., Antimicrofouling properties of chosen marine plants: An eco-friendly approach to restrain marine microfoulers. Biocatal. Agric. Biotechnol. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2014.11.002i Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology ∎ (∎∎∎∎) ∎∎∎–∎∎∎