Bacteria associated seaweed as a benchmark to study biological function

Abstract

Bacteria are a very diverse important group of microorganisms normally associated to animal and plant kingdoms, including algae. It has been seen that bacteria use volatile compounds metabolically whose final purpose would depend on environmental conditions, such as temperature and light or interactions among species. In some cases, these volatiles favor the production of secondary metabolites (i.e. carotenoids, polyphenols and other antioxidant pigments) and/or poly unsaturated fatty acids which are potential beneficial compounds. In other cases, bacteria get benefit from these substances as protection from herbivore grazing and furthermore by affecting their physiological processes. This work consisted of molecular characterization of endophytic and epiphytic bacteria in two types of macroalgae in order to further study the role of the volatiles emitted by them in the algal physiology. The most relevant results were the isolation and identification of Marinomonas sp and Bacillus sp as representative organisms of bacteria. This will open a framework to check which the role of bacteria is in the production of volatiles and how far these compounds affect to the alga physiology.