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ABSTRACT: The Gulf of Mannar, is a unique marine habitat with diverse of macroalgae. Macroalgae are primitive non flowering marine plants, which have rich sources of bioactive compounds (i.e., proteins, peptides, amino acid, polysaccharide, alkaloids etc). The selected red algae Gelidiela acerosa and Acanthophora spicifera collected from the Gulf of Mannar, southeast coast of India. In the present study, the anticancer potential of the methanol (crude) extract from G. acerosa and A. spicifera was tested for probable anticancer activity in Dalton’s Ascitic Lymphoma (DAL) cells. The cells were tested in Swiss albino mice. The results show that G. acerosa and A. spicifera algae extract were the most effective against DAL cells in mice respectively had significant anticancer activity and it might be a good candidate for further investigation in order to develop a natural compound as an anticancer agents, which can be utilized for the production of potential anticancer drug and novel pharmaceutical leads

The Presence of Biomarker Enzymes of Selected Scleractinian Corals of Palk Bay, Southeast Coast of India

The health and existence of coral reefs are in danger by an increasing range of environmental and anthropogenic impacts. The causes of coral reef decline include worldwide climate change, shoreline development, habitat destruction, pollution, sedimentation and overexploitation. These disasters have contributed to an estimated loss of 27% of the reefs. If the current pressure continues unabated, the estimated loss of coral reef will be about 60% by the year 2030. Therefore, the present study was aimed to analyze the enzymes involved in stress induced by coral pathogen and its resistance. We focused on the enzymes involved in melanin synthesis pathway (phenoloxidase (PO) and peroxidases (POD)) and free radical scavenging enzymes (super oxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT)) and glutathione peroxidase (Gpx) in selected scleractinian corals such as Acropora formosa, Echinopora lamellosa, Favia favus, Favites halicora, Porites sp., and Anacropora forbesi. Overall, PO activity of coral was significantly lower than that of zooxanthellae except for Favia favus. Coral colonies with lower PO and POD activities are prone to disease. Maximum antioxidant defensive enzymes were observed in Favia favus followed by Echinopora lamellose. It is concluded that assay of these enzymes can be used as biomarkers for identifying the susceptibility of corals towards coral bleaching induced by pathogen