Molecular Identification, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of the Tropical Seagrass Halophila stipulacea Grown in El-Bardawil Lake, Egypt

Halophila stipulacea a tropical seagrass entered the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Up to date, no genetic studies of Halophila stipulacea from El-Bardawil Lake are available. In order to verify the molecular identity of El-Bardawil lake isolates of Halophila stipulacea, employing Random Amplified Polymorphic analysis (RAPD) which carried out using six decamer primers, 26 amplified bands were produced, the highest number of amplified fragments (11 fragments) was produced by primer OP C04 and the OP B07 whereas OPC03 was the lowest primer (7 fragments). In this study, aqueous extract from Halophila stipulacea was assayed against some microorganisms using zone inhibition technique. The extract showed moderate activity against Gram-positive bacteria and high activity against filamentous Aspergillus niger fungus. In addition the antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract was studied and showed a moderate activity of the Halophila stipulacea seagrass reached 40%. The total phenolic content in the seagrass extract was 0.523 mg tannic acid equivalent /g.